Dance

The Blank Album

13 Mar 2008

As all musicians know, putting together an album isn’t just about writing songs. Running order, track length and variety of sound all come into play. So when choreographer, Natasha Gilmore decided to use the album model to create her latest dance piece…

Scottish Ballet to tour another Romeo and Juliet

13 Mar 2008

Following Scottish Ballet’s win for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical) at the National Dance Awards, the troupe is to introduce a second full-length production of Romeo and Juliet to its touring programme. Acclaimed choreographer Krzysztof Pastor…

Uprising/In Your Rooms

13 Mar 2008

Hofesh Schechter’s work, here seen in two new pieces, has set the contemporary dance world alight. In this programme, among other themes, ideas about masculinity and family are explored. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 22 Mar

Scottish Dance Theatre

28 Feb 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Glasgow Theatre Royal, Thu 28–Fri 29 Feb When dance works – and I mean really works – it’s not your eyes that tell you, but your heart. And that rush of adrenalin. Needless to say, it doesn’t happen very often – but with Liv Lorent…

Cabbages and Kings

28 Feb 2008

CHILDREN’S DANCE THEATRE Platform, Glasgow, Sat 8 Mar; Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Sat 22 Mar As a choreographer, Claire Pençak is fuelled by a wonderfully rich imagination. So rich, in fact, that sometimes there’s only one group of people to take…

Heaven on Earth

28 Feb 2008

Union dance present a new piece incorporating some macho urban movement, as well as martial arts in a double bill, Sublime Element and Two Bye Two. There’s plenty graceful movement too from this young company. Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Thu 6 Mar.

X Factor Dance Company

14 Feb 2008

SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE Freemason’s Hall, Edinburgh, Tue 19 Feb–Sat 1 Mar Eighteen years after its first performance, X Factor Dance Company is coming of age. And, like most new recruits to adulthood, is striking out into uncharted territory. For…

The Visible Men

14 Feb 2008

NEW WORK Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 16 Feb Contemporary dance and comedy double act are two concepts that aren’t usually found in the same sentence. The two genres appear to attract such widely different types of audiences, and philosophies that…

Scottish Dance Theatre

14 Feb 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Dundee Rep, Thu 21–Sat 23 Feb, then touring. When dance and music come together, it’s usually a fusion of creative sources – a symbiotic partnership of composer and choreographer. But when artistic director, Janet Smith commissioned…

Valentine's Day tango classes

31 Jan 2008

It’s bucketing down on Buchanan Street with all the maudlin misery of your traditional Glasgow winter. However, if you divert up a side alley, local dancers are generating the sort of heat and wild, sensual rhythm better suited to the backroom of an…

La La La Human Steps: Amjad

31 Jan 2008

MODERN BALLET They say a picture tells a thousand words, and the poster for La La La Human Steps’ latest show pretty much tells you all you need to know. Standing 20ft tall, male dancer Dominic Santia is wearing a sharp black suit and pointe shoes.

Mel B's lap dance treat

Celebrity Gossip

29 Jan 2008

Mel B took her husband to a strip club as they enjoyed a raunchy night out together and treated him to a private lap dance.

Play Ball

17 Jan 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 26 Jan Nina Rajarani is not afraid to mix things up. In her latest show, the London-based choreographer has merged a typically female Indian dance style with two largely male domains: the…

Act One

17 Jan 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 31 Jan When you talk about battles on the dancefloor, it usually involves a hip hop crew and some fairly heavy beats. But when Charlotte Vincent, artistic director of Vincent Dance Theatre, created…

Dance Base & Dance House

4 Jan 2008

DANCE CLASSES There was a time when dance classes meant scraped back buns, stern ballet teachers and splinters from the church hall floor. Not anymore. At the sleek studios of Edinburgh’s Dance Base, there’s not a loose plank in sight, and enjoyment…

Hula Hoopla

4 Jan 2008

OK, we’ve officially found the best ever way to rediscover your waist in the new year. Dance Base’s weekly Hula Hoopla classes, which start on Monday 7 January and run into March, not only tone your hips and backside back into shape, but allow you the…

The Car Man

18 Oct 2007

DANCE THEATRE Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 30 Oct–Sat 3 Nov The small town of Harmony, USA has two things in abundance – heat and hormones. Both of which drive the town’s spirited young folk to acts of lust, infidelity and violence. Originally…

Susan and Darren

4 Oct 2007

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 17–Sat 20 Oct DANCE THEATRE Reality television may dominate the small screen, but seldom has it found its way into the theatre. And although the creators of Susan and Darren find the term ‘Reality Theatre’ too…

Behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet

6 Sep 2007

As Scottish Ballet gears up for a move to its new permanent home in Tramway, the company is throwing open the doors and inviting the public in to see exactly what they do when not putting on performances. As well as demonstrating how they intend to…

Scottish Ballet launches £1m appeal

4 Sep 2007

News presenter Kirsty Wark has launched an appeal to ensure the award-winning dance company Scottish Ballet can move into its new home. The appeal is hoping to raise the final £1 million needed to complete Scottish Ballet’s new home at Glasgow’s…

Trisha Brown Dance Company

23 Aug 2007

In 1962, one building in New York City became the centre of the modern dance world. Artists flocked to Judson Memorial Church to produce work, and when they left, went on to influence dancers and choreographers around the world. But when I ask Trisha…

Paria

23 Aug 2007

‘Please take off your shoes,’ said the sign by the door. So we did, expecting some form of audience participation on a delicate floor. Instead, the entire show passed with no involvement for our stockinged/bare feet whatsoever. The real reason didn’t…

Hitlist - the best Festival dance

23 Aug 2007

Ballerina Who Loves A B-Boy The finest Korean breakdancers in town – treat yourself to headspins, streetdance and a wee bit of ballet in this five star show. clubWEST@Hilton, 0772 028 5550, 7.45pm, until 24 Aug, £12 (£9). Trisha Brown Dance Company…

Flamenco con Fusion

23 Aug 2007

Ricardo Garcia’s Familia Flamenca exemplifies the drama that can be created from a simple fusion of virtuoso musicianship and strong, deft footwork. Even stripped down to acoustic instruments, voices and movement, the show is no less uplifting. Whether…

Impressing the Czar

16 Aug 2007

‘You’re going to get really lost,’ predicts Aki Saito, principal dancer with the Royal Ballet of Flanders. She’s talking about the average person’s reaction to William Forsythe’s three-act extravaganza, Impressing the Czar. ‘You won’t know what to…

Ballerina Who Loves a B-Boy

16 Aug 2007

Although it’s been crammed into a hotel function room better suited to the cringey frugging of a wedding disco, this gleeful little production is the most assured and exuberant of the cluster of Korean breakdance shows infesting the Fringe this…

Hitlist - the best Festival dance

16 Aug 2007

Into the Hoods London’s Zoo Nation are back at the Fringe for another helping of hilarious five star hip hop dance theatre. Truly unmissable. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug, 7.30pm, £15.50–£19.50 (£13.50–£15.50). Impressing The Czar…

Red Shoes

5 Questions

16 Aug 2007

5 things which inspire you to dance? The same things that inspire me in general: music, love (in all its forms), optimism, a beautiful day, the feeling of physical well-being. 4 things you would like to see at this year’s Festival? I tend to…

Méli Mélo II

16 Aug 2007

Parody is a tricky thing to pull off. There’s a risk that, while attempting to point out the absurdity of the medium you’re lampooning, you destroy what made it worth imitating in the first place. Happily, Chicos Mambos succeed in negotiating that…

Transformation

16 Aug 2007

Transformation is a compelling tale of one woman’s extraordinary life. An actor, dancer and environmental campaigner explains what she calls the transformation cycle, beginning in chaos and progressing full circle to order. Using her physicality and…

Desert Island Dances

16 Aug 2007

This year, a proportion of the Fringe dance programme seems to be backing away from huge, political themes, focusing instead on small, personal moments of introversion. Desert Island Dances by Wendy Houston, whose Haunted, Daunted and Flaunted triptych…

Six Women Standing in Front of a White Wall

Tom Tàbori

16 Aug 2007

Six Women Standing In Front of A White Wall bursts beautifully from the venue’s seams, with a wonderful idea powering the performance. Separating the six women’s pitiable writhing and the audience is a rope cordon – much like the boundary between the…

Leitmotif

16 Aug 2007

Andrew Dawson is excitedly telling us about a company who film train journeys; no commentary, just a camera stuck to the front of the engine. He plays us the video – Bognor Regis to Victoria – and hops excitedly into the frame to point out the corner he…

Siamsoir: The Battle for Eire

16 Aug 2007

Their name comes from the Gaelic word for ‘entertainer’, and that’s precisely what young company Siamsoir’s fusion of traditional Irish and contemporary dance sets out to do. Trawling the misty myths of ancient Eire for subject matter…

John Moran and his Neighbour, Saori

16 Aug 2007

First off, this is not the show we’re supposed to see. At time of reviewing, the eponymous Saori was still in New York, nursing a burnt foot. By the end of Moran’s Edinburgh run, the Japanese dancer should be on stage with him – albeit slightly less…

Traces

16 Aug 2007

The early pitches for poignancy are a put off, but when 7 Fingers keep to their incredible gymnastics, they are truly impressive. Like an old-fashioned circus, the audience ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at the spectacular stunts and clap the death-defying feats. It…

The Voice of Things - Toilet Paper

16 Aug 2007

The solo performer waters her toilet rolls, wears a toilet paper skirt and crown, drapes toilet paper across the stage and generally loses herself, and the audience, in the slow and painful process. Are Underbelly trying to fill their rooms or just…

Fuerzabruta

16 Aug 2007

A man runs frantically on a conveyor belt headlong into unavoidable obstacles; nymph-like beauties writhe, close enough to touch, on water-covered perspex; women somersault across floating tinfoil walls bathed in an aura of multicoloured light as wind…

Scottish Dance Theatre

16 Aug 2007

Scotland’s national contemporary dance company celebrates its 21st birthday this year, so go along and see how they’ve grown. This Fringe they’ll be performing Vanessa Haska’s wartime-inspired work, Sorry About the Missiles!, using the company’s usual…

Cape Dance Company

Kelly Apter

9 Aug 2007

Bringing a show to the Edinburgh Fringe is a financial challenge for most people – but when you live over 6000 miles away, it’s a Herculean effort. Cape Dance Company has visited the Fringe twice before, in 1996 and 1998, so a return visit is long…

The Mothers Bones

9 Aug 2007

Inspiration can strike in the most unlikely of places, and for Kath Burlinson it was inside a cave in the Dordogne. Surrounded by ancient drawings, she hit upon the idea of The Mother’s Bones, a show which explores three ages of womanhood.

Sorry, Love!

9 Aug 2007

Isobel works in PR, Ramon’s a hotel bellboy. They fall in love and get a mortgage. Her boss calls too often; she’s sad when he comes home late. It’s interesting to see a piece of dance theatre using ballet and the sexy flourishes of tango to express…

As the Mother of a Brown Boy

9 Aug 2007

Just as society lets so many young black men fall through the net, As The Mother Of A Brown Boy also struggles to reach the dead boy it tries to reclaim from the ranks of statistics. As usual, Chickenshed are to be lauded for attending to a subject…

Maximum Crew

9 Aug 2007

Korean breakdance has evolved away from the po-faced machismo that can pervade Western scenes, so while the dancers may still occasionally come across as cocky show-offs, they’re not afraid of self-parody or knowing camp. Over there the b-boy crews…

Druthers

9 Aug 2007

Druthers’ Everyman in the attic is hoisted from his hermitage by an entertaining barrage of multimedia performance from Bristol’s Precarious Dance. The company take the opportunity to showcase their very talented wares, making especially beautiful use…

Incarnat

9 Aug 2007

Each solo sequence in Incarnat is an incitation to empathy, relentlessly asking the onlooker to reach out. The shock tactics it uses in this endeavour make for difficult viewing at times, but its images create a devastatingly powerful piece of…

Natasha Gilmore

5 questions

9 Aug 2007

5 words sum up your dance piece, Madame Bazie? Comic, intimate, ridiculous, emotional, intricate. 4 shows you’re looking forward to seeing Everything at Assembly Aurora Nova and Dance Base; A performance I know absolutely nothing about; The…

Tap Olé

9 Aug 2007

Tap Olé’s simple coupling of lively, rhythmic hoofing to classical guitar and hand clapping injects tap dance with a sexy, contemporary, feel. In this Spanish dance, the click of the castanets is replaced by a percussive whirr created by the dancers…

State of Matter

9 Aug 2007

The stark lighting and simple uniform of black tailcoats characterise the restraint that permeates this performance by Hereford’s 2FaCeD DaNcE Company. There is no narrative to this show, rather it is a collection of unrelated set pieces, the…

On Danse

9 Aug 2007

Sticking a video screen behind your choreography is all the rage these days, but few people do it as seamlessly as these guys. Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu from France has blended ballet, contemporary, African and breakdance with a stunning video…