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Fringe 2006 Reviews (26)
Rock A Bye B-Boy
Random Aspekts
Dance Base
****
The press release describes this as "breakdancing bedtime stories
for kids", but it's much more than that. Breakdancing it certainly
is, but there's also clowning and physical theatre, and it isn't just
for kids: the adults in the audience enjoyed it just as much as the
children.
It's great fun, and, for those of us who (like me until now) only know
the genre as street dance, a total revelation. We watch the B-Boys'
dreams unfold as we marvel at the sheer physicality of their dance.
There's a lot of laughter and a few scary moments; there are solos and
all possible group combinations of dance; there's a pretty eclectic
range of music; and, above all, the piece has been cleverly worked out
and choreographed.
Like the rest of the Dance Base Dance All Sorts programme, it
only runs until 20th August, so anyone with an interest in dance - and,
in particular, anyone with kids who enjoy street dance, should get down
to the Grassmarket asap!
Peter Lathan
Dance All Sorts: Show 1
Dance Base
***(*)
El Sakiyeh (The Waterwheel)
Iskandar Dance Company
Show 1 opens with this piece of Egyptian Hilal dance, performed by two
female and one male dancers. In costumes and with movements reminiscent
at times of the "Whirling Dervishes", the style has some vague
similarities to Belly Dance but is gentler and smoother. The movement
language is based on curves - curved pathways, curved gesture, occasionally
curved bodies. It is performed to music from Upper Egypt, played on
arghul and tablah.
Intended to portray the rhythmic work of the Fellahin, to the unintiated
it can seem a little repetitive, with minor variations in foot and hand
movements or in the positioning of the dancers - who seem to glide across
the floor, sometimes speeding up, sometimes slowing down - distinguishing
one section from another. The effect can be mesmerising.
It's About Time
Karl Jay-Lewin and Company
Jay-Lewin's work, the programme informs us, "defies explantion
or interpretation" and this piece certainly fits in with that comment.
It begins with two dancers running at varying speeds around the stage,
sometimes in canon, sometimes together, with variations in speed and,
occasionally, direction, and then slows down considerably.
An exploration of time and space, it works viscerally: any attempt
to intellectualise is doomed to failure. In many ways this piece is
reminiscent of the kind of physical theatre which emanates from Eastern
Europe and even bears a passing resemblance to the work of practitioners
such as Wim Vanderkybus.
Unbounded
Michael Popper
A solo piece performed to Judith Weir's cello piece Unlocked,
played by an on-stage cellist (William Conway at the performance I saw),
in it Popper expresses the ability we have to break free of whatever
confines us. It is intensely physical, celebratory and yet also showing
just how fragile people are.
Beyond Prejudice
The Curve Fundation
This is the most immediately accessible of the four pieces in programme
one. It explores the way in which contact with others can upset our
equilibrium and how we reach accomodation to restore that sense of security
and balance.
This is a very varied programme, combining what we immediately recognise
as contemporary dance with a little known ethnic dance style and a style
which marries dance and physical theatre.
Peter Lathan
Dance All Sorts: Show 3
Dance Base
****
Walkie Talkie
Jem Treays
In Walkie Talkie Jem Treays totally blurs the distinctions between
dance, physical theatre and clowning. His character exemplifies the
sad clown, desperate to please, who fools around (indeed, clowns around)
to attract the approbation of others. With a lavalier radio microphone
taped to the palm of one hand, he even creates his own sound track,
most effectively when it picks up the sound of his chalking on the floor..
As the piece progresses he becomes increasingly desperate and his appeals
to the audience become more and more despairing as his movements get
more and more frantic.
It's a well-judged piece, stopping short of going over the top in its
clowning and of decending too far into pathos.
Blue
Janice Claxton
There is a theatricality about Blue, as Claxton explores possibilities
and potentialities, moving from one exploration to another, accompanied
by a wide variety of music. I have to say that I found it the most difficult
of the six pieces in the two All Sorts programmes I have seen
so far. There is a geeat deal to admire in the performance but I found
the piece rather opaque, although I suspect the fault is in me rather
than in Blue itself!
To Have and To Hold (Vier Starke Frauen)
Norman Douglas and Company
Here theatre (including text), dance and cabaret combine, with even
a touch of burlesque. The four strong women of the subtitle reveal to
us their dreams of the ideal man and then proceed to search for him,
using all the means in their power - and fail, being reduced at the
end to pulling men out of the audience to dance with them, finally drooping
in despair as the extent of their failure bedomes obvious to them (and
to us).
Another well-balanced programme, covering a range of dance styles and
an interesting combination of other genres to expand on the dance.
Peter Lathan
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