Dance

Rhythms With Soul

Foot-stomping romp through flamenco history

8 Aug 2010

On posters Venezuelan-born flamenco dancer Miguel Vargas appears smouldering and bare-chested. But unlike paparazzi-friendly contemporaries such as Joaquin Cortes he is no peacock, all baby-oil and no substance. There is strut aplenty. There is simmer…

Continent

Barton finks too much

8 Aug 2010

There’s something curiously retro about this little piece, from the tight-fitting, slightly shiny suits worn by its performers to the old fashioned world of typewriters and briefcases it conjures up.

Roam

Fast-flowing contemporary dance laced with breakdance and martial arts

8 Aug 2010

Tom Dale Company returns to the Fringe with a piece loosely based on the human impulse to ‘roam’. The rising choreographer presents an hour of contemporary dance that, like its title, never stops moving. There is no set or narrative. Rather Roam is…

Dance company MAU bring Tempest: Without a Body and Birds with Skymirrors to Fringe

Lemi Ponifasio blends theatre, choreography and ritual

5 Aug 2010

Most definitely not your standard dance fare, these two works by New Zealand-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio and his company MAU blend theatre, choreography and ritual to create something thought-provoking and unique. Don’t be put off by the pace…

Brazil! Brazil! marks return of Capoeria Knights to Fringe

Fancy footwork and football from the favelas

3 Aug 2010

Starting life as Capoeria Knights at the 2008 Fringe, returning as The Boys From Brazil in 2009 and now simply called Brazil! Brazil!, this show has undergone various personnel changes and artistic tweaks. Jaw-dropping flips and leaps have always been…

Artist Martin Creed presents dance piece Ballet Work No.1020

Turner Prize-winning visual artist gets to the pointe at Fringe

3 Aug 2010

Through with the usual art materials – paper, paint, bronze (and in this instance vomit, excrement and light bulbs) – Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed has turned his hand to the human body. Lauded for his Work No. 850 (2008), in which athletes…

Broad Comedy

American sketch sextet with high aims

3 Aug 2010

If Broad Comedy could achieve one thing with their work, what would it be? ‘Orgasm. Wait, we’ve done that.’ So says the charmingly cheeky Katie Goodman, an actress/writer/director who, along with her husband, playwright and actor Soren Kisiel, came up…

Booking Dance Festival showcases 12 US dance companies

10-minute canapés of American dance

3 Aug 2010

The festival within a festival returns to the Fringe for the second time, bringing dynamic performances from our friends across the pond. The Booking Dance Festival showcases 12 US dance companies over two programmes, with each one given ten minutes to…

Rhythms with Soul preview

Flamenco with a modern twist

3 Aug 2010

Flamenco may be steeped in tradition, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be contemporary. Choreographer Miguel Vargas first stepped on stage as a young boy, having learned from the old masters growing up in Spain and Venezuela. Now, aged 34, he delivers his…

My Name is Margaret Morris

Forgotten hero dances back to life

3 Aug 2010

You would think, having invented a new way of moving, married a famous artist and been the driving force behind Scottish dance for years, that people would remember you. Sadly, the name Margaret Morris is likely to prompt a ‘who?’ from most people these…

Dance Doctor Dance! explores our relationship with movement

Doctor of dance delving deep into artform

3 Aug 2010

Peter Lovatt actually is a doctor of dance: he heads up the Dance Psychology Laboratory at the University of Hertfordshire. Given a biography that includes stints as a ballet dancer, cruise ship entertainer and expert-for-hire on The Graham Norton Show…

120 Birds tells tale of 1920s Australian dance company

Homage to Anna Pavlova and ballet’s golden age

3 Aug 2010

‘This is not a history lesson,’ explains the pre-publicity surrounding 120 Birds, one of Dance Base’s specially-commissioned works for the Fringe this year. In a way, that’s true – it’s a fictional story of the travels and travails of a 1920s Australian…

Cabaret Chordelia - Making a Song and Dance

Cabaret with a heart and mind

3 Aug 2010

Company Chordelia is known for its willingness to push the boundaries of modern dance and strike an emotional chord. Something which looks set to continue when they bring their latest performance Cabaret Chordelia to the Fringe. Described as an…

Fringe dance show Still shows impact of war

Dundee-based Smallpetitklein promise intense physical performance

3 Aug 2010

The brutality and devastating impact of war was the inspiration behind Smallpetitklein’s Fringe show. A double-bill featuring contemporary dance work Stiller by award-winning choreographer Thomas Small, and short film Unmoving, Still doesn’t pull any…

Flawless follow StreetDance 3D spot with Chase the Dream

Dance show from Britain’s Got Talent stars

3 Aug 2010

They don’t come much slicker than this. Despite being denied the top prize on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, Flawless has been true to its catchphrase, ‘Chase the dream, not the competition’, and continues to reach for the top. Having recently starred in…

Rhythm Drum & Dance

High-energy show comes to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre

30 Jul 2010

We needed a lie down just after watching the YouTube trailer for this one. A high-energy, high drama drum show which began as a 20-minute show in Berlin (and has since expanded to tour around Europe) – this is a celebration of rhythms. And the RD&D…

30 top shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

The List's pick of the Edinburgh Festival programme

23 Jul 2010

From Turner Prize-winning Martin Creed and New York theatre experimentalists The Wooster Group to former wild child Storm Large and promising newcomer Jonny Sweet, this is The List's pick of August’s entertainment.

Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal to run at Edinburgh Festival

The legacy of the German choreographer at the 2010 International Festival

16 Jul 2010

The death of Pina Bausch has left a gaping void in European dance. Kelly Apter introduces her final work for the EIF and discusses the German innovator’s legacy with those who were both influenced and moved by her

BalletLORENT's Blood, Sweat and Tears

Quirky, emotive dance theatre from Newcastle-based group

16 Jul 2010

Despite being a mere stone’s throw away from Scotland, we see tragically little of Newcastle-based balletLORENT. Easily one of the most interesting female choreographers in the world today, Liv Lorent produces quirky, emotive dance theatre that always…

Choreographer Jean Abreu brings Inside show to Edinburgh Fringe

Abreu uses dance to look at prison life

15 Jul 2010

Picture spending day after endless day trapped behind a locked door, for which someone else has the key. That’s where Jean Abreu’s imagination has been residing for the best part of two years, during the creation of his new work, Inside. The…

An overview of the 2010 Edinburgh Festivals and their directors

What to expect from Edinburgh in August

15 Jul 2010

Nowhere does a festival quite like Edinburgh, and even with the film folk having long moved out of August, there is more than plenty going on for lovers of art, literature, comedy, theatre, kids entertainment, music, dance and military displays. The…

Fifty Edinburgh Fringe shows for a fiver

13 Jul 2010

The economy may be in the stink-hole, but Julia Correia and Allan Radcliffe help stretch your pennies with this round-up of Fringe theatre shows for a fiver

Mela 2010 programme includes Cargo, Jaz Dhami and Bonafide

7 Jul 2010

Setting its stall from 6–8 Aug in Leith Links, this summer’s Mela jamboree includes the premiere of Cargo, a large-scale outdoor performance on the theme of migration, funded by the Scottish Parliament. Other highlights include sports at Leith Links, UK…

New Dance Base studio set for Leith

24 Jun 2010

Dance lovers are being encouraged to put their backing behind the latest initiative by Dance Base. Proposals are now underway to get more people dancing with a new studio housed in the Thomas Morton Hall in Leith. Situated on the corner of Ferry Road…

Kevin Bridges, Derrick May and Green Velvet on Rock Ness 2010 bill

10 Jun 2010

Rock Ness has more to offer than just great DJs and lashings of live music, as Henry Northmore finds out