Four Quarters

Tired after days of mediocre Fringe shows? Proceed directly to Zoo and ingest these four sharp little shots of contemporary dance performance. The magnetic Isobel Cohen, who curated the show and appears in three of the works, starts things off by wandering onstage in an incongruously saucy PVC corset, for a hilarious, articulate monologue on both the nature of contemporary dance and the grammatical (and other) errors of the boyfriend who bought her the corset. She then goes on to respond to herself with a lovely, sad piece of floorwork, smarting with disappointment.

Then things get darker. In ‘Where The Humans Eat’ a broken doll dancer’s limbs splay and tick, before she advances towards the audience like a vengeful ghost from a Japanese horror movie, while behind her a short film plays out scenes of spousal murder. ‘All Ends In Tears’ is a brutal, clever and exhilarating work, where childish ‘rough play’ turns into something frighteningly close to domestic abuse. Final piece, ‘I’ve been waiting …’ though choreographed fluidly, makes rather less of an impression, but the whole is still a vital taster course in intelligent, engaging dance.

The Zoo, 662 6892, until 23 Aug (not 17), 1.45pm, £8–£10.