Dance

The Council of the Ordinary

B-Boying takes a turn towards the dark side

It’s beat battles and break moves but not as you know them, in this triple bill from breakdancing troupe Bad Taste Cru. As well as flipping themselves into spins, the Cru, originally from Northern Ireland, also demonstrate the dance’s potential to…

Sergio Diaz of Ballet Preljocaj discusses the company's performances at EIF

The Edinburgh International Festival is hosting three pieces from the acclaimed French company

It’s lunchtime at Ballet Preljocaj’s headquarters in Aix en Provence, and dancer Sergio Diaz is taking a well-earned break. A few moments earlier, he and the rest of the company were rehearsing And then, one thousand years of peace, an extraordinary new…

Aditi Mangaldas reinventing Kathak dance at Edinburgh International Festival

‘It’s interesting and challenging for me to explore the unknown,’ says Aditi Mangaldas, on the phone from her company’s base in New Delhi. Which is exactly what the Indian choreographer has been doing for the past 21 years, since the formation of the…

Up & Over It: Back on our Feet

Punky and fresh take on Irish dance

What do you do after life as a lead Riverdancer? If you’re Up & Over It duo, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding, the answer is: soup-up the punky-pop beats, get yourselves some outrageous neon costumes, and invoke Simon Cowell’s sceptical eyebrow on…

Collision

Dance floor mash-up from Lite Fantastic, the company behind Prodigy dance show Prodigious

Promising us a show where ‘styles collide’, London-based dance company Lite Fantastic is as good as its word. In one routine, performed to the Labrinth/Tinie Tempah track ‘Earthquake’, a couple starts off ballroom dancing, moves into breakdancing and…

Rhythmic Circus: Feet Don't Fail Me Now

Hugely impressive dance and music collaboration

Rhythmic Circus are a group of friends who hail mainly from Minnesota, and their strong, close connection is one of the things that makes Feet Don’t Fail Me Now so enjoyable, right from the outset. The quartet of four hugely impressive tap dancers…

Sulle Labbra Tue Dolcissime (On Your Honey Lips)

Sensual slow-burning dance from Siena

This intriguing piece from Siena-based Francesca Selva Company is a bit of a slow burner. But stick with it and it will reap delicious visual rewards. Starting with the image of a dove -- part of Giovanni Mezzedimi's multimedia collaboration with…

Bad Taste Cru - 5 questions

What are the 5 key ingredients for any hip hop theatre show? ‘Skill, depth, power, originality and, perhaps most importantly, integrity. We try to stay faithful to the fundamental elements of our dance, while expressing a strong sense of concept or…

Africa Calling

Song, dance and drumming from Grassroots of Zimbabwe

Aside from drummers, dancers and phenomenal singers, at the centre of this understated extravaganza is a huge beating heart and a simple message of peace, love and unity. Zimbabwe-based Grassroots tours schools, prisons and local communities with…

The Blind

Stunningly powerful outdoors multimedia spectacle

Krakow-based KTO Theatre pulls off a rare feat in combining stunning visual effects with a potent emotional impact in its gripping, wordless show The Blind. Whether through pounding music, imagery that’s by turns shocking and poignantly beautiful, or…

Hi-kick

Thrilling fusion of football, dance and slapstick

Virtuoso soccer skills have become a staple of telly variety shows like Britain’s Got Talent. But when was the last time you witnessed a five-a-side football match recreated on stage, with multiple balls flying in every direction? While this show from…

Time for Fun

Russian troupe prove handy when it comes to dance

It’s the hands rather than the feet that do the dancing in this original show from St Petersburg-based Hand Made Theatre. With nothing but rolled up sleeves, white gloves and a well-timed UV light to aid them, the ensemble create patterns, puppets and…

Jishin

Kinetic and playful Japanese contemporary dance

There’s a spirit of playfulness underpinning this series of dance vignettes from Japanese company LAN-T003, all flavoured with an urban energy and a pulsing, kinetic style of movement that echoes both reptiles and robots. The piece was written as an…

Watch it!

Small-screen addiction writ large with dance, theatre and visual trickery

Watching too much television is bad for you. This is not a new piece of information, the psychology behind why has been well documented. But if people only created shows about new subject matters, there’d be a lot of empty stages, so we can’t really…

Dance icon Deborah Colker brings Tatyana to 2012 Edinburgh International Festival

Brazilian choreographer brings show based on Pushkin's Eugene Onegin to Edinburgh

When you approach the latest dance production by trailblazing, Olivier Award-winning Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker, please jettison clichés of samba, sun and surf. The small, blonde dynamo, 52 this year, is hugely popular in her native country…

Anybody Waitin'?

Slapstick meets slick dance in the new production from Irish company ponydance

Who knew dance could be so funny? Presumably all those who went to ponydance’s last Fringe show, Where Did It All Go Right? The Irish troupe is known for mixing slick routines and silliness, and this follow-up certainly won’t disappoint their fans.

Five questions for Dance Base at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012

Morag Deyes, director at one of Edinburgh's leading dance venues, describes the programme

1. What five words describe this year’s Fringe experience at Dance Base? Adventurous. Passionate. Global. Sensuous. Transformative. 2. What four things do you look for in all the shows you add to the Dance Base Fringe line-up? Integrity.

Tony Mills brings Watch iT! to the Fringe

The multimedia dance odyssey is about one man’s love/hate relationship with his TV

As a resident of Edinburgh, and working in the performing arts, when the Fringe comes to town I like to get knee deep in activity. This year I find myself up to my neck, as I present Watch iT!, produced by my own company, Room 2 Manoeuvre, as part of…

Aberdeen International Youth Festival 2012 takes to the streets 1-11th August

Sculpture and street dance to feature in port-themed parade

Aberdeen will come alive with colour as a several-hundred strong parade marches through the town’s streets on 4 August in celebration of the festival’s 40th anniversary. The parade takes on the theme of Aberdeen’s port which has been a vital gateway…

Top 5 international dance shows at Fringe 2012

Featuring Latin Live, Hi-Kick, Mother Africa, Rhythmic Circus and Knee Deep

Latin Live The team that brought you Brazil! Brazil! are back, with another hot and steamy show that mixes Latin rhythms, sensational vocals and the kind of dancing they don’t teach you at Sunday school. Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 26 Aug…

Neil Davy of Lite Fantastic dicusses Prodigy-themed dance show Prodigious

Neil Davy is a barrister following his passion for dance. His new company, Lite Fantastic, was set up to make dance more accessible to new audiences. It makes its Fringe debut this year with two shows: Collision, a feel-good music and dance mash-up, and…

Minnesota-based dance company Rhythmic Circus present Feet Don’t Fail Me Now!

Described as ‘a cross between a dance show, a rock concert and a comedy hour,’ the Minnesota-based Rhythmic Circus is back for a full run after just one week at the 2011 Fringe. Featuring four hard-hitting, rapid-fire dancers and original…

Irish dance company Up & Over It put a fresh spin on the Riverdance template for Fringe 2012

Appeals to both Riverdance lovers and haters

They learned the steps, won the medals, and stood in line with all the other good Riverdance boys and girls. Then one day, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding decided to break out from that line and do it their way, and Up & Over It was born. Taking an…

National Folk Theatre of Ireland to perform What the Folk! at Fringe 2012

The company merge dance with storytelling in intimate locations

Based in Tralee in County Kerry, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland is keeping traditions alive, by looking to the future. Training performers in music, dance, theatre and song from a young age, it ensures there’s always a new crop of talent rising…

Anton Adasinsky discusses Faust adaptation Mephisto Waltz, playing at Fringe 2012

Blend of physical storytelling and clowning set to music by Liszt

If you’ve ever seen a performance by Anton Adasinsky you’ll know that Mephistopheles, the seductive demon from the Faust legend, is the role he was born to play. ‘Very often theatre critics were mentioning devilry, the infernal, even Satanism in…