FESTIVAL DANCE | Previews
BLACK GRACE UK debut of New Zealand’s leading contemporary dance group
Founded by choreographer Neil Ieremia in 1995, Black Grace draws upon Ieremia’s roots as a New Zealand-born Samoan for many of its themes and much of its style. His aim with the company is to create work accessible enough ‘so that someone who knows nothing about dance can walk in and enjoy themselves, and yet the choreography’s so layered that dance- goers can appreciate the rhythms and composition.’
Most of the company members coming to Edinburgh are New Zealanders with various backgrounds: Samoan, Tongan, Maori and even Scottish, plus two guest performers from the USA. Ieremia will steer them through a mixed bill of short works expressed with a richly physical raw power and flair. The oldest, dating from 1999 and based on a nursery rhyme, combines the traditional fa’ataupati (or slap dance) with western choreographic techniques. Another, featuring seated body percussion, taps into male stereotyping in the Pacific.
‘I grew up in Porirua, just outside the capital city of Wellington,’ Ieremia explains. ‘It was a tough, working-class environment, so you can imagine how difficult it was as a young male to be interested in dance. Pacific and New Zealand men are supposed to be farmers, hunters and labourers, not dancers!’
The rest of the programme balances a high-impact tribute to Ieremia’s mum in among political edginess and a fantastically romantic take on gender differences. About the latter, Ieremia says, ‘for the first seven years of Black Grace, I only worked with male dancers. Then, in 2002, I brought three women into the studio. The effect was incredible. All of a sudden the guys were behaving differently, looking after themselves. The studio smelt better too.’ (Donald Hutera) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, 2–22 Aug, 7.20pm, £14–£15 (£13–£14). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug, £10.
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ATHLETES Award-winning dance to great Hitchcock score MARIA ADDOLORATA Exploration of human suffering through dance
MALASOMBRA Dark fable from Spanish company
This beautiful, unconventional trio by Italian-born Riccardo Buscarini won the 2013 Place Prize, a London-based gong sometimes described as the UK dance equivalent of the Turner Prize. It’s a strange, striking work featuring females
encased in tight, white costumes (by fashion designer Brooke Roberts) adorned with spine- like appendages. The brief, highly stylised drama in which they’re engaged is at once creepy, romantic and a matter of life-and-death, and it’s set to Bernard Herrmann’s unforgettable score for Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
‘I’ve always loved that music,’ the choreographer admits. ‘It’s very layered, majestic and melancholic. I wanted Athletes to have that feel.’ The result is stunningly ambiguous. ‘There haven't
been any weird interpretations so far,’ Buscarini claims, ‘but I'm looking forward to some. I hope Edinburgh audiences will get wild and creative!'
As a child his dream was to become a puppeteer. 'I was fascinated by the idea of creating worlds on stage and delivering them to people. I’d like to think that somehow I’m still doing the same through dance.’ (Donald Hutera) ■ Dance Base, 225 5525, 2–17 Aug (not 4, 11), 1pm, £8–£10 (£6–£8). Preview 1 Aug, £8 (£6).
52 THE LIST FESTIVAL 31 Jul–7 Aug 2014
It’s an old cliché that artists have to suffer for their discipline. But Italian dancers Chiara Taviani and Carlo Massari are pushing this notion further than most, in a show that aims to investigate the experience of human suffering. ‘We find it strange that a subject matter that
touches us all is not present more often on stage,’ says Massari, co-choreographer and performer in the duet. ‘Suffering is universal, all of us experience it, still we shun away from delving into its meaning.’
The show's title roughly translates as ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’, and was inspired by Catholic iconography. But they hope the piece transcends religion to speak universally. Their aim is to explore physical and mental suffering and its effects on others, from sympathy to confusion to humour.
Cross-disciplinary shows may be standard Fringe fare these days, but few pieces can boast the lineup of Malasombra, which combines theatre, dance, video art, cartoon techniques, shadow effects and heavy metal to tell a dark, fable-esque tale. ‘I wanted to do a performance with my friend Max (an award-winning cartoonist),’ says Tomeu Gomila, co-director and choreographer. ‘So I asked him if he had an idea. It was very difficult to do a narrative story with our abstract scenic language but we tried for a long time until the show came up as a combination.’
The piece tells the story of Mr Malasombra (‘evil shadow’ in Spanish) who disguises himself as a person, in order to seduce people and put them to work as slaves in his factory.
Surely, however, there is a price to pay for Despite the various components that make up
recreating all that misery, night after night? ‘There is a crucial dividing line between portraying a part with empathy, but recognising that we are not the characters,’ says Taviani. ‘Once you metabolise this concept, you can give it all to the part and step out of it, with love and respect, till the following performance.’ (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, 1–24 Aug, 6.40pm, £10 (£8; family ticket £26). Malasombra, Gomila insists the overall effect is simple. ‘We are not doing a traditional shadow theatre performance with hands or acrobatics,’ he says. ‘The aim was to put on to the stage the naive style and simplicity of Max’s illustrations in a dance- theatre piece for all the family.’ (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, 6–24 Aug (not 12, 19), 2.40pm, £13 (£11; family ticket £46). Previews 1–4 Aug, £11.