Edinburgh's "home of dance" announces Festival programme

Published: 9 June 2017
Reporter: David Chadderton

Dance Base in Edinburgh will feature 21 shows from 12 countries in its 16th year as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Arab Art Focus will present a weekend of work from three choreographers from Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, plus there will be two events from the Fringe Taiwan Season: 038 from Kuo-Shin Chuang Pangcah Dance Theatre and Chen-Wei Lee x ART B&B’s Together Alone. Guwahati-based dancer and choreographer Shilpika Bordoloi presents Majuli as part of India@UK Year of Culture 2017.

Caroline Bowditch and Company present Snigel and Friends, a new interactive and sensory show for 0- to 1-year-olds and their adults, which is part of the Made in Scotland showcase. Canadian dance master and choreographer Bill Coleman joins forces with avant-garde composer Gordon Monahan to present Dollhouse, combining tap dancing, performance art and a live score. From Korea, Lee K Dance explores mental health in Mind-Goblin.

The first of two shows inspired by Shakespeare is John Scott Dance’s re-interpretation of Lear, which is part of the Culture Ireland Showcase and stars Valda Setterfield as the King. Company Chordelia's co-production with Solar Bear, Lady Macbeth: unsex me here, explores the ambition, power and remorse of Shakespeare’s most complex woman.

James Wilton Dance's Leviathan is a re-imagining of Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, and Joan Clevillé Dance returns with its new work The North. Oceanallover presents Sea Hames in association with Feral, a promenade piece which will visit the Dance Base garden over three dates before appearing at Dalkeith Country Park.

Oona Doherty presents her sweaty dance theatre Hope Hunt & the Ascension into Lazarus, whereas masculinity is central to Poyo Rojo's performance Un Poyo Rojo. Julie Cunningham's To Be Me, part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase, was inspired by the Greek tale of Tiresias and is set to Kate Tempest's reworking of the myth.

Fishamble: The New Play Company returns with the award-winning comedy The Humours of Bandon and humour is also present in Keira Martin’s Here Comes Trouble, a one-woman show that draws on personal stories and social and cultural influences from Ireland, Yorkshire and Jamaica. Old Kent Road makes its Fringe debut with Fall Out, a tap dancing show set to the sounds of a live jazz performance.

Dance Base's Heads Up will return, with a curated pick-and-mix of great dance from across the Fringe. Dance Base's performing companies PRIME and Lothian Youth Dance Company join Scottish Dance Theatre's Creative Learning to present a multi-generational showcase called Why Stop There? with dancers from 12 to 85 years old.

Artistic Director Morag Deyes said, “dance is a language that everyone is able to understand—the magic of the body tells us stories about life, conveying the subtlest and the most visceral experiences of the wonderful human condition. This year, we see the tragedies and the comedies of humanity, often in the same show, as seen and felt from across this complex, beautiful planet. Prepare to be moved, delighted, surprised, shaken and stirred!”

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?