ITALIAN DANCE MAVERICK EMIO GRECO/PC Playhouse, 18 & 19 Aug, 8pm
It's easy to champion the mathematically meticulous. dramatically charged collaborations of dancer-choreographer Emio Greco and director Pieter C Scholten, but harder to pinpoint just what makes them so good. Based in Amsterdam. the pair made an auspicious Festival debut last year with Extra Dry. The duet featured Greco and an equally striking female dancer executing sharp. Iunging, visceral, eccentric and exacting movement in long white shirts that clung to them like wrinkled chicken skin.
European cultural phiIOSOphers and critics wax ecstatic about Greco and Scholten. and with good reason. They really do use the body and the stage in original and exciting ways. Writing about their own work, they sometimes run the risk of converting braininess into obfuscation. Having published an artistic manifesto called “the seven necessities‘ in the mid-908. they have since coined the term ‘extremalism‘, a word which they say ‘reflects their search for extreme minimalism and for a maximising of extremes positioned between the profane and sacred.‘ Not sure what to make of that? Then trust in the integrity of their research and make sure to see its fruits.
Luckily, all their conceptualising is rooted in flesh and bone. particularly Greco's. His background includes study and performances with towering dance-theatre talents like Maurice Bejart. .Jan Fabre and Saburo Teshigawara. In the first half of Double Points: one 8 two. the hour-long piece which marks his and Scholten's return to Edinburgh. Greco dances a purportedly explosive solo set to Ravel's Bolero (the source of one of Bejart's most flamboyant and famous choreographies). In part two he‘s joined by the commanding Bertha Bermudez Pascual. formerly a dancer for William Forsythe of Ballett Frankfurt.
The main festival programme contains a blurb from the Jerusalem Post praising Greco and Scholten for having ‘managed to attack all the senses‘. In that Spirit, I asked the dynamic dance-theatre duo for sensory specifics regarding
Ballett Freiburg wrap their arms around Bach’s Art of Fugue
CONTEMPORARY BALLET BALLETT FREIBURG PRETTY UGLY
Festival Theatre, 18 Aug, 8pm; 19 Aug, 2.30pm.
It’s not often the words ‘ballet’ and ‘ugly’ appear in the same sentence. But then Amanda Miller, the woman behind Ballett Freiburg Pretty Ugly, has rather a penchant for dichotomy. Having moved to Germany from Carolina aged 19, to help pal William Forsythe set up Ballett Frankfurt, Miller has resided in the country ever since. And it was during her time in the Forsythe stable that the American’s fondness
34 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 16-22 Aug 200‘.
for contrast first manifested itself; most notably through her piece Pretty Ugly. Inspired by people’s varying reactions to the chaos of New York City, where Miller found ‘what’s beautiful to one person is not to another’, the dance became her signature piece. So, when the time came to set up her own company in 1992, it seemed a logical choice for a name. ‘I didn’t want to call it the Amanda Miller Dance Company, because that was totally contradictory to my beliefs about trying to share things with other people,’ explains Miller.
Fast forward five years and Miller
Emio Greco and Bertha Bnnudez pull off a stunning duet
Double Points.
What motivated the work?
Double Points 1: The challenge to break in the structure of Ravel's Bolero and move it further, give it new life.
Double Points 2: The challenge to see out intentions of movement in the body of ‘the other', in this case the amazing Benha.
What does it look like?
DP 1: Highway (lost).
DP 2: Light square in a black box Surrounding.
What does it sound like?
DP 1: Lava. frogs. bolero. fireworks to celebrate and mourn the ending.
DP 2: Action with needles; 'Ne Me Ouitte Pas' by Nina Simone. What does it smell like?
DP 1: November (Scorpio).
DP 2: Mistral.
What does it taste like?
DP 1: The French Revolution.
DP 2: EjaCUlation.
Not Sure what to make of all that either? Then be at the Playhouse and find out. (Donald Hutera)
once again found herself, like a new parent, searching for a name. Approached by Freiburg’s Stadttheater to become its resident company, she was loath to lose their existing identity but eager to embrace their new position. Hence, Ballett Freiburg Pretty Ugly. Because, as Miller pointed out to the Stadttheater board keen to re- name them Freiburg Dans Theater, ‘there is ballet happening here, there really is.’
Undeniably so. Miller’s blend of ballet and contemporary is seamless. Milking the best of both worlds, she has created an innovative homogeny of elegance and athleticism, clearly illustrated in her International Festival debut, The Art of Fugue. A series of solos, duets and ensemble pieces set to a live Bach accompaniment, the piece finds the dancers scattered around the stage, waiting for their turn. But although they may look like they’ve just decided to stroll across the floor, within this casual freedom are a few well-placed rules. ‘They know they have to be at a specific place at a specific time,’ explains Miller. ‘But to keep things unpredictable they have to really be aware of themselves, so they don’t go “okay, here I go, I’m going to make my entrance”.’ (Kelly Apter)
m Pandemonium Part music. part dance, part art exhibition — imaginative Americans. Lelavision scatter musical instruments round a desert island, then play them with their bodies. See review on next page. Quaker Meeting House, until 25 Aug, 6. 30pm.
Jordan Town Honey-dipped vocals. a soaring string quartet and the wondrous moves of Royal Ballet dancer Tom Sapsford. See review on next page. C Underground, until 78 Aug, 70.45pm.
PASTForwar-d Post-modern dance made easy, courtesy of the very wonderful Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project. Playhouse, until 76 Aug, 7.30pm.
m Double Points: one a two See preview, left. Playhouse,
7 8—1 9 Aug, 8pm.
lit The Art of Fugue
See preview, left. Festival Theatre. 18/19 Aug. 8pm/2pm. iii In Situ Seven dancers and two musicians light up the new Dance Base in this wonderful site-specific work. Dance Base. until 79 Aug, 4pm.
lift In the Mud and Y Exciting double-bill from Paule Turner's vibrant company, Court and Anglo-Chinese dancer Michelle Man. Gilded Balloon at Teviot Row, until 26 Aug, 3. 75pm.
m The Pillow Book Japan’s feistiest export. Shakti strips down to the bare essentials in this erotic exploration of the body's pleasures. See review on next page. Garage Chaplteau. until 27 Aug, 9pm.
ill! Within Outer Space: Heads on fire, luminous juggling, surreal amphibian crawling — you’ve never seen anything like it. Prepare to be amazed. confused and just a little scared. See review on next page. C Venue, until 26 Aug, 8.30pm.