Dance, Kelly Apter

Leigh Warren + Dancers - Breathe/Impulse

The choreographer bringing his 'group of individuals' to Edinburgh International Festival

In some dance companies you have soloists and principals, in others everybody is on the same level. But rarely are company members described as ‘a group of individual dance artists’, as they are on the Leigh Warren website. When he started his company…

Interview: Laurent Garnier and Angelin Preljocaj at Edinburgh Festival 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…

Batsheva Dance Company: Hora

Learning the new language of dance

For most of us, the word ‘gaga’ means one of two things: an anthemic, hands-in-the-air Queen song, or a peroxide blonde dressed in meat. At Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, however, it has a whole other meaning. The brainchild of Israeli artistic…

Russia's Mariinsky Ballet bring Cinderella to Edinburgh International Festival

Five reasons why you shouldn't miss it

The company You might know them as the Kirov, but back home they’re called the Mariinsky Ballet, and this St Petersburg-based troupe is widely recognised as being one of the finest classical ballet companies in the world. The choreographer A former…

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…

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

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 Festival Fringe 2012: Dance highlights

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…

Claire Robertson, principal dancer with Scottish Ballet, discusses the company's autumn season

Principal dancer Claire Robertson has seen some been changes since she joined Scottish Ballet in 1994. The latest of which is the arrival of new artistic director, Christopher Hampson. But while all eyes are on what the company does next, the legacy…

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…

The Big Dance set to take over Edinburgh

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.

Pilrig Park School: The American Dream

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…

Breakin’ Convention 12

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…

Kith/Kin dance double bill from Company Chameleon

Pieces explore journey to adulthood, friendship and bravery

The recent departure of Janet Smith from Scottish Dance Theatre (SDT) highlighted not just her achievements over the past 15 years, but the alumni she helped foster. Two such dancers are Kevin Turner and Anthony Missen, both of whom had a compelling…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Strangebird Zirkus: Ornithology

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…

Scottish Ballet's Family Challenge Day

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

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…

Danza Contemporanea De Cuba tours UK

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…

Tightrope dance piece fosters re-evaluation of who can and cannot dance

Indepen-dance reworking of AMICI show follows ageing circus troupe

Down on its luck, an ageing circus troupe sticks together in an attempt to survive. On paper, Tightrope’s storyline doesn’t sound like much fun, but in reality the work has been lauded for its wit and poignancy. The show was originally created for…

Nederlands Dans Theater 2

Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman discusses his playful new piece, Cacti

Watching a piece of modern dance often provokes an irresistible urge to analyse it. Unlike narrative ballet, there’s no story, so viewers can be left wondering ‘what does it all mean?’ More often than not, the answer to that question is ‘whatever you…

Errol White Company presents new group work IAM

New emotional work based on loss set for Tramway

There are moments in our lives that hit us more than others. Events that alter the shape of who we are. It was one such moment that led choreographer Errol White onto a creative path that produced first a solo, and now a new group work, IAM. ‘The…