Dance

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Australian company Casus bring physical performance Knee Deep to Fringe 2012

27 Jul 2012

Festival show takes gymnastics and feats of strength to new level

How do you assemble a circus show when those involved are all busy with projects abroad? Skype’s fine for generating ideas, says Jesse Scott of Casus, but this newly-formed Australian company’s inaugural show, Knee Deep didn’t begin to find its legs…

Irish company ponydance return to Fringe 2012 with Anybody Waitin'?

27 Jul 2012

The team follow up on their successful 2010 show Where Did It All Go Right?

In August 2010, an Edinburgh nightclub was commandeered for an entirely new use. In some ways, it was business as usual – beer was served, steps were danced and flirtations took place. Only this time, it was performers, rather than clubbers, doing the…

Edinburgh Fringe dance show Flash Mob brings together TV dance show favourites

25 Jul 2012

Tommy Franzen and others from Got to Dance and So You Think You Can Dance?

Performance-based reality TV shows get a bad rap for chewing up talent and spitting it out again. That’s where this production by World Dance Management steps in with a slick new show spotlighting dancers who shot to prominence on programmes like Sky1’s…

How to make your Edinburgh Fringe show a success

19 Jul 2012

Author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide Mark Fisher dispenses good advice

A couple of years ago, I was commissioned by Methuen Drama to write The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide, a 280-page manual published earlier this year and described by Lyn Gardner of the Guardian as "a wonderfully practical but also inspirational book…

Dance show Hi-Kick a hit for football and dance enthusiasts alike

11 Jul 2012

A play of football and dance from South Korean Fringe favourites

Football is a very big deal in South Korea. It’s difficult to imagine, say, the Scottish Government giving the country a half-day off for World Cup matches (should our national side ever make it back to the biggest football tournament on earth), or…

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Interview: Laurent Garnier and Angelin Preljocaj at Edinburgh Festival 2012

11 Jul 2012

Producer and choreographer collaborate on And then, one thousand years of peace

‘Laurent Garnier has been making the planet dance for 25 years.’ So states the opening line of the Frenchman’s personal website. While there’s a hint of hyperbole in that statement, it’s fair to say Garnier has filled a few floors in his time. From…

Edinburgh International Festival 2012 highlights

11 Jul 2012

Highlights from the 2012 International Festival programme

Batsheva Dance Company. They last stirred the festival in 2008 with the blazing Deca Dance, which featured the relatively rare sight of some members of an EIF audience on stage with the performers. Under the guidance of innovative choreographer Ohad…

Twenty top shows at the 2012 Edinburgh Festivals

11 Jul 2012

Highlights from the Fringe, Book and International Festivals

Having scanned the 23.6m shows, exhibitions and events across the festival in late July, August and early September, we pluck out the ones that simply cannot be missed

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012: Dance highlights

11 Jul 2012

Flash Mob, Rhythmic Circus, What the Folk! and more

Anybody Waitin’? All those who saw Ponydance Theatre Company’s laugh-out-loud funny 2011 Fringe show, Where Did it All Go Right? will be hoping that the Irish troupe hit the spot again this year. Odds on, they will, so don’t miss it. Silk Nightclub…

The Big Dance set to take over Edinburgh

25 Jun 2012

The programme, part of the Cultural Olympiad, will feature a world record attempt in the Grassmarket

If there’s one woman in Edinburgh with her finger on the dance pulse, it’s Morag Deyes. The artistic director of Dance Base knows who’s jetting into Scotland to perform, who’s taking their dancing skills elsewhere, and who’s making it happen right here.

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Pilrig Park School: The American Dream

25 Jun 2012

Pilrig pupils show us what they're made of in impressive America-focused performance

From the costumes to the choreography, there’s not a single aspect of Pilrig Park’s annual showcase that pupils don’t have a hand in. Largely because, unlike other schools where drama and dance are tag-ons after the ‘real learning’ has finished, at…

Dance and music take centre stage at the Edinburgh Mela

25 Jun 2012

The multicultural arts festival announces part of its 2012 programme

Those familiar with the August festival scene would probably agree that the Edinburgh Mela has occasionally struggled for attention, too often carelessly over-looked for some of the bigger kids in the playground. Not so this year, with a new director…

Strangebird Zirkus: Ornithology

22 Jun 2012

The German-Scottish partnership continues to thrill, this time with birds without feathers

Ever sat in the theatre and wished you could change the channel? Well now you can, courtesy of the latest production from Edinburgh-based aerial company Strangebird Zirkus. While the visual aspect of Ornithology may remain the same (and if the…

Strictly Come Dancing's Vincent Simone discusses his new show, Midnight Tango

8 Jun 2012

The TV star performs with Strictly partner Flavia Cacace

Picture the scene: a devastatingly handsome man leads you to the dance floor. Sweeping you off your feet and into that most passionate of dances, the tango, you reel with the sheer romance and excitement of it all. Then, when you think life can’t…

Highlights from the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe programme

22 May 2012

Daniel Kitson, Billy the Mime and Paolo Bianchi set to appear

The Fringe madness is looming on the horizon and as long as the nation isn’t holed up with Olympics fever, this could well be another record-breaking year. You’ll be less than surprised to hear there’s a massive amount of comedy on show, including a…

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Scottish Ballet's Family Challenge Day

22 May 2012

A fun event for the whole family to try out some basic ballet steps

‘When you’re a parent, quite often you’ll do things with your child that you wouldn’t do on your own,’ says Catherine Cassidy, associate director of education at Scottish Ballet. How very true. Or at least that’s what Scottish Ballet is banking on, when…

Martin Lawrance on Dance GB

15 May 2012

The Scottish Ballet choreographer will share a bill with English and Welsh national dance companies

‘Am I allowed to swear?’ asks Martin Lawrance politely, before going on to describe how he felt when Scottish Ballet first knocked at his door. Suffice to say, he was a little nervous. A dancer with Richard Alston Dance Company for many years…

Make 2012 your Year of Creative Scotland

4 May 2012

Discover incredible events happening near you this year

The Year of Creative Scotland is packed full of exciting new initiatives to complement a fantastic and enhanced, year-round cultural programme. It shows off our creativity at its best...

A Streetcar Named Desire

25 Apr 20125 stars

Incredibly dynamic, exhilarating and edgy production from Scottish Ballet

Early on in Scottish Ballet’s audacious adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire it hits home just how persuasively Tennessee Williams’ play has been adapted for non-verbal storytelling. Director Nancy Meckler and choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa have…

Danza Contemporanea De Cuba tours UK

18 Apr 2012

Exceptional Cuban dance company with European influence

Watching Danza Contemporanea de Cuba on stage, you quickly start to form an opinion. Full of energy, dressed in colourful costumes, these talented dancers are here purely to entertain. But keep watching, and new sides to the company start to emerge. In…

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Breakin’ Convention 12

17 Apr 2012

Hip hop dance festival featuring many groups from throughout UK

There are so many things to love about Breakin’ Convention, from the pre-show action in the foyer to the charged atmosphere that fills the Festival Theatre. But perhaps the most inspirational aspect of this bi-annual hip hop festival is the way local…

Interview: Trisha Brown - choreographer

17 Apr 2012

Influential figure in American postmodern dance heads for Glasgow

As one of the most influential figures in American postmodern dance heads for Glasgow, we find out what lies behind the creative force that is Trisha Brown What made you want to be a choreographer? The foundations for living a creative life were laid…

StreetDance 2

2 Apr 20122 stars

A sequel of so-so dances, hackneyed plotting and wooden performances

(PG) 85mins The ‘kids dancing their way out of the ghetto’ trope has been a staple of cinema since the 1950s but taking inspiration from recent US products like Step Up and Stomp the Yard, StreetDance 3D inexplicably became the UK’s most popular…

Cirque du Soleil take Alegria on UK tour

26 Mar 2012

Mix of acrobatics, dance and music explores carnival themes

Expect a heady mix of high-energy acrobatics, dance and music when Cirque du Soleil return north of the border this month. Alegria, Spanish for ‘joy’, has been delighting audiences across the globe for 17 years, as artistic director Bruno Darmagnac…

Scottish Ballet tackle A Streetcar Named Desire

21 Mar 2012

Behind the scenes at new ballet based on Tennessee Williams play

Stanley Kowalski eases his muscles in around the thin body of the woman who will become his wife. Flirting with her, he pulls her handbag from her lap, wears it on one casually extended foot, a powerful, teasing predator. Behind her eyes, a light…