Reviews & features: Lucy Ribchester
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Batsheva Dance Company - Hora
3 Sep 2012
Gaga dancers showcase their inventive style
For many years Israeli-born choreographer Ohad Naharin has been developing his own language of abstract dance with the suitably eccentric name 'Gaga'. In Hora a grass green box provides the backdrop for his cast of 11 to exercise their Gaga flexibility…
Cinderella
3 Sep 2012
Cartoonish vibes in choreographer Alexei Ratmansky's ultimately glorious Perrault adaptation
As with contemporary productions of Shakespeare, the measure of a fairytale ballet isn't so much the story but what you do with it. Here choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, who created the piece for the Mariinksy in 2002, has chosen to bring a cartoonish…
Juilliard Dance
28 Aug 2012
Triple bill from the 'holy grail of dance schools'
Although student showcases abound on the Fringe, not many make it to the International Festival. But then this is Juilliard, one of the world's most highly regarded dance schools. The expectations for this triple bill are therefore justifiably high, and…
Ballet Preljocaj: And then, one thousand years of peace
19 Aug 2012
Radical re-imagining of the Book of Revelation
'Revolution and revelation' are two of the themes Angelin Preljocaj cites in his radical re-working of St John's Apocalypse, a piece that beguiles both with the changing textures of its movement and the surreal beauty of its images, set to a scorching…
Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company - Uncharted Seas/Timeless
19 Aug 2012
Kathak dance travels from tradition to timelessness
A journey through time and space, Aditi Mangaldas' double-bill travels through the traditions of Kathak north Indian dance -- with its origins in storytelling -- to emerge spinning into the 21st century, in two pieces that connect the early temple…
(remor)
17 Aug 2012
Potent micro-theatre probes a couple’s break up
The most potent things always come in the smallest doses: shots of espresso, measures of vodka, and in this case an 11-minute piece of dance that cuts to the core of a couple’s broken relationship. Even the wooden box that performers Marta Barceló and…
The Council of the Ordinary
17 Aug 2012
B-Boying takes a turn towards the dark side
It’s beat battles and break moves but not as you know them, in this triple bill from breakdancing troupe Bad Taste Cru. As well as flipping themselves into spins, the Cru, originally from Northern Ireland, also demonstrate the dance’s potential to…
Circus in Hand
17 Aug 2012
Hand made circus puppetry with a human touch
There can’t be many circuses at the Fringe where you can behold a ringmaster standing on a giraffe’s head or a tap-dancing zebra. But then there can’t be many circuses at all where the performers are made from neat slices of stretchy fabric, adorably…
Up & Over It: Back on our Feet
12 Aug 2012
Punky and fresh take on Irish dance
What do you do after life as a lead Riverdancer? If you’re Up & Over It duo, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding, the answer is: soup-up the punky-pop beats, get yourselves some outrageous neon costumes, and invoke Simon Cowell’s sceptical eyebrow on…
Sulle Labbra Tue Dolcissime (On Your Honey Lips)
11 Aug 2012
Sensual slow-burning dance from Siena
This intriguing piece from Siena-based Francesca Selva Company is a bit of a slow burner. But stick with it and it will reap delicious visual rewards. Starting with the image of a dove -- part of Giovanni Mezzedimi's multimedia collaboration with…
Freedom Family Circus
10 Aug 2012
Straight-up circus makes up for wobbles with warmth
This sunny-demeanoured circus troupe hail from various parts of the USA and Chile, and have apparently only been performing as a complete line-up for around six days. Which could explain a few of the hiccups in their acts: juggling balls and skittles…
Africa Calling
10 Aug 2012
Song, dance and drumming from Grassroots of Zimbabwe
Aside from drummers, dancers and phenomenal singers, at the centre of this understated extravaganza is a huge beating heart and a simple message of peace, love and unity. Zimbabwe-based Grassroots tours schools, prisons and local communities with…
Time for Fun
7 Aug 2012
Russian troupe prove handy when it comes to dance
It’s the hands rather than the feet that do the dancing in this original show from St Petersburg-based Hand Made Theatre. With nothing but rolled up sleeves, white gloves and a well-timed UV light to aid them, the ensemble create patterns, puppets and…
Jishin
7 Aug 2012
Kinetic and playful Japanese contemporary dance
There’s a spirit of playfulness underpinning this series of dance vignettes from Japanese company LAN-T003, all flavoured with an urban energy and a pulsing, kinetic style of movement that echoes both reptiles and robots. The piece was written as an…
Anybody Waitin'?
4 Aug 2012
Slapstick meets slick dance in the new production from Irish company ponydance
Who knew dance could be so funny? Presumably all those who went to ponydance’s last Fringe show, Where Did It All Go Right? The Irish troupe is known for mixing slick routines and silliness, and this follow-up certainly won’t disappoint their fans.
Re-Triptych
2 Sep 2011
Mesmerising epic journey of dance
Even as we file into the auditorium, the mesmerising spectacle has begun. The dancers sit holding golden bowls, calmly anointing the final touches on a huge mandala - a geometric Buddhist symbol - made from blue and white confetti covering the whole…
Scottish Ballet
1 Sep 2011
An evening of contemporary classics
For a programme dominated by music from the great canon of composers, the opening to Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo’s Kings 2 Ends, a silent dynamic solo, comes as a surprise. But it’s curiously pleasing. It lets the clean stretched lines of the dance…
Movin' Melvin Brown: Just Singing and Dancing ... You Can Do It!
1 Sep 2011
Slick foot-stomping but too much audience on show
Movin’ Melvin Brown certainly got his stage name right. There’s no denying the Texan man can move. And move he does, sometimes so fast his gold shoed feet go into a little fuzzy cloud of slick rhythm and frantic toe-tapping. The best thing by far…
Soldier and Death
26 Aug 2011
Soldier fable let down by tiny puppets
There’s bags of potential in this talented young troupe of puppeteers who tell the fable-esque tale of a soldier who cheats death. All are compelling storytellers, taking turns as the narrator. But the puppets are miniscule, dwarfed by multiple…
Nourish
25 Aug 2011
Thought-provoking suffragette drama
1913 was a year when suffragette militant violence turned inwards with devastating consequences. But while Emily Wilding Davison made headlines by stepping in front of the King’s horse at the Derby, Sylvia Pankhurst was engaged in a quieter but no less…
Last Orders
18 Aug 2011
Contemporary retelling of cannibal tale fails to set the blood pumping
There is no end to the unpleasant images that choreographer and director Al Seed presents us with in this fetishistic modern retelling of the legend of Sawney Bean. Those familiar with the story of Scotland’s real or fictitious 16th century cannibal…
Slender Threads
11 Aug 2011
Sensitive portrayal of a woman’s experience of cancer
Chickenshed is not a company to shy away from difficult or painful subject matters. Previous shows have dealt with knife crime and the true story of a 19-year-old boy who was killed while fleeing a robbery scene. Here they lay bare a woman’s experience…
The Ballet Ruse
11 Aug 2011
Sneaking a cheeky peek at the secret lives of ballerinas
2011 has been quite a year for peeking backstage at the ballet, with the BBC documentary series The Agony and the Ecstasy and Darren Aronofsky’s thriller Black Swan. The Ballet Ruse is an altogether more irreverent look at the painstaking discipline…
Uncharted Waters
8 Aug 2011
Homage to life on the waves told through aerial circus skills
The wayward charm of running away to sea is beautifully captured by aerial dance and roguish shanties, in this three-part collaboration between Strange Bird Zirkus and All or Nothing. Lucy Deacon and Jennifer Paterson lure us in with their parallels…
Rock the Ballet
7 Aug 2011
Pop-rock ballet makes for pure entertainment from Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys
Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance have come to town and swapped tights and Tchaikovsky for snug black trousers and an unashamed pop-rock soundtrack. New York-based ballet dancers they may be, but there’s not a whiff of neurotic Natalie Portman about them…
