Reviews & features: Dance

Mary & William

Intimate rendition is by turns humorous and poignant

Actress Mary MacDonald Hamill performs a biographical piece woven together with excerpts from Shakespeare which provide a lyrical commentary to the narrative. Following the story of her life and career from childhood, this intimate rendition is by turns…

Grupo Corpo - 'in Brazil dance is a way of living'

Grupo Corpo’s International Festival performance will showcase all of the dance company’s determined creative spirit, and touch on the beliefs and traditions of their native Brazil. Kelly Apter talks to choreographer, Rodrigo Pedernerias.

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Cabaret will never be the same

The former star of La Clique, who counts David Bowie among her fans, strips away the mystique of cabaret in this riotous postmodern deconstruction of her art. That’s literally the case when during the first few minutes of the show she’s interrupted by…

5 Questions - Frank McConnell

Frank McConnell of Plan B takes time out from performing A Wee Home From Home with musician Michael Marra, to answer our 5 Questions.

Dance Doctor Dance

Joining in with the lord of the dance

As the lights go up on PowerPoint equipment and a bespectacled, middle-aged man announcing himself as a reader in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, you fear you’re in for a lecture rather than an hour of Fringe fun. But twinkle-toed Dr…

Rhythm Of The Drums: Song Of The Cicada

Show but no tell

The title is a little misleading: drumming is but a small part of this showcase of traditional music and dance from the minority Dong and Miao peoples of southwest China. The series of virtuoso displays, from the furious Wood Drum Dance to love…

Inside features live score from 65daysofstatic

Dance: not just for girls, okay?

Hefty, stark and at times brutally visceral, Inside, the new work by boy wonder Jean Abreu, is macho dance, its choreography built around lines of masculinity and inspired by prison movies. There are no tutus, no extraneous flounces, and, with a live…

Zambezi Express

Talented performers bring warmth to cold Fringe

Feet stomp, drums resound and mouths scat and sing to conjure a vibrant, joyful Africa through dance, percussion, a cappella vocals and acrobatics. A nominal storyline fails to hinder the packed dance card of contrasting pieces, which errs on the side…

Flawless - Chase The Dream

Streetdance – and a whole lot more

Britain’s Got Talent finalists, Flawless strive for perfection on a daily basis. And, in their slick, fast-paced streetdance routines, it’s fair to say they’ve reached their goal. Not an arm or leg is out of place, the timing is razor sharp and the…

Brazil! Brazil!

Capeoira kicks, samba hips and footie tricks

Brazil! Brazil! is like the fantasy beach party everyone wants invited to. Chilled-out Brazilian beats to rival Astrud Gilberto, buff bare-chested guys wheeling out jaw-dropping capoeira kicks and backflips, voluptuous feather-topped girls in bling…

Anatomy of Fantasy

Impressive if unfocused journey through the subconscious

Anatomy of Fantasy is an appropriately elusive title for a multi-sensory show that, while enjoyable, at times lacks focus.

Tap Ole

Tap dance meets flamenco guitar with a sprinkling of razzle dazzle

If you like your flamenco music served with fury and furrowed brow this is not the show for you. This is flamenco music with a Broadway smile: the usual simmering passions and castanets of the proud flamenca replaced with jazz arms and a volley of…

Martin Creed: Ballet Work No 1020

Oh, do try harder, disgruntled of Sadler’s Wells

Three stars. That’s what Martin Creed’s getting, although I suspect he was aiming for one, and some outrage. Three stars because there are a couple of interesting dance moments, a few good laughs, and some of the musical numbers are quite good, although…

Rhythms With Soul

Foot-stomping romp through flamenco history

On posters Venezuelan-born flamenco dancer Miguel Vargas appears smouldering and bare-chested. But unlike paparazzi-friendly contemporaries such as Joaquin Cortes he is no peacock, all baby-oil and no substance. There is strut aplenty. There is simmer…

Continent

Barton finks too much

There’s something curiously retro about this little piece, from the tight-fitting, slightly shiny suits worn by its performers to the old fashioned world of typewriters and briefcases it conjures up.

Roam

Fast-flowing contemporary dance laced with breakdance and martial arts

Tom Dale Company returns to the Fringe with a piece loosely based on the human impulse to ‘roam’. The rising choreographer presents an hour of contemporary dance that, like its title, never stops moving. There is no set or narrative. Rather Roam is…

Breakdance and Streetdance Championships at the Fringe

Peter Maniam of Moving in Circles on dance competitions

5 things you love about breakdancing. The physicality – B-Boys and Girls push their bodies to the extreme, with nothing more than their own physical ability, blood, sweat and tears; the controversy – breaking has no governing body so judges rely on…

Brazil! Brazil! marks return of Capoeria Knights to Fringe

Fancy footwork and football from the favelas

Starting life as Capoeria Knights at the 2008 Fringe, returning as The Boys From Brazil in 2009 and now simply called Brazil! Brazil!, this show has undergone various personnel changes and artistic tweaks. Jaw-dropping flips and leaps have always been…

Artist Martin Creed presents dance piece Ballet Work No.1020

Turner Prize-winning visual artist gets to the pointe at Fringe

Through with the usual art materials – paper, paint, bronze (and in this instance vomit, excrement and light bulbs) – Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed has turned his hand to the human body. Lauded for his Work No. 850 (2008), in which athletes…

Broad Comedy

American sketch sextet with high aims

If Broad Comedy could achieve one thing with their work, what would it be? ‘Orgasm. Wait, we’ve done that.’ So says the charmingly cheeky Katie Goodman, an actress/writer/director who, along with her husband, playwright and actor Soren Kisiel, came up…

Booking Dance Festival showcases 12 US dance companies

10-minute canapés of American dance

The festival within a festival returns to the Fringe for the second time, bringing dynamic performances from our friends across the pond. The Booking Dance Festival showcases 12 US dance companies over two programmes, with each one given ten minutes to…

Rhythms with Soul preview

Flamenco with a modern twist

Flamenco may be steeped in tradition, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be contemporary. Choreographer Miguel Vargas first stepped on stage as a young boy, having learned from the old masters growing up in Spain and Venezuela. Now, aged 34, he delivers his…

My Name is Margaret Morris

Forgotten hero dances back to life

You would think, having invented a new way of moving, married a famous artist and been the driving force behind Scottish dance for years, that people would remember you. Sadly, the name Margaret Morris is likely to prompt a ‘who?’ from most people these…

Dance Doctor Dance! explores our relationship with movement

Doctor of dance delving deep into artform

Peter Lovatt actually is a doctor of dance: he heads up the Dance Psychology Laboratory at the University of Hertfordshire. Given a biography that includes stints as a ballet dancer, cruise ship entertainer and expert-for-hire on The Graham Norton Show…

120 Birds tells tale of 1920s Australian dance company

Homage to Anna Pavlova and ballet’s golden age

‘This is not a history lesson,’ explains the pre-publicity surrounding 120 Birds, one of Dance Base’s specially-commissioned works for the Fringe this year. In a way, that’s true – it’s a fictional story of the travels and travails of a 1920s Australian…