Theatre
PREVIEW STREETDANCE SHOW BLAZE Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Fri 15 & Sat 16 Oct; Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thu 21-Sat 23 Oct
Despite a history dating back over 30 years, hip hop still feels like the new kid on the dance block. Partly because it’s so fresh it could never feel old – but also because only now is it getting the recognition it deserves.
Once exclusively confined to pavements and nightclubs, hip hop has found itself a home in the theatre, with shows such as Into the Hoods, Bounce, Pied Piper and Breakin’ Convention opening up the genre to different generations.
Described by its creators as a cross between a West
End show and a club night, Blaze is the latest streetdance sensation taking the UK by storm. Performed by twelve streetdancers, three breakers and a DJ, the show also boasts impressive video and lighting design, ensuring the backdrop is as slick as the dance moves. Blaze also features two dancers who recently proved their mettle on TV show, So You Think You Can Dance,
Tommy Franzen and Lizzie Gough. Having spent weeks trying to impress judges and voters, learning new routines in an instant and adapting their bodies to all manner of dance styles, how did the programme prepare them for the Blaze tour? ‘Walking straight into rehearsals after So You Think
You Can Dance was really tough as we were two weeks late into them,’ says Franzen. ‘But being in “learning choreography fast” mode really helped. And it will be really nice to travel around and perform live for all the people I’ve managed to reach out to on TV.’
‘So You Think You Can Dance kept us on your toes,’ agrees Gough. ‘We were always doing something different, learning quickly and using various props and set, which Blaze does too – there’s a lot going on.’
The huge growth in hip hop audiences proves they must do doing something right. To what does Franzen attribute the genre’s increasing appeal? ‘The wow factor seems to be something that most people appreciate,’ he says, ‘and there is a lot of that within the hip hop dance styles. Whether it’s moves that look gravity defying or like illusions, they all look impressive.’ (Kelly Apter)
PREVIEW DANCE THEATRE RETURN2YOU The Arches, Wed 13 & Thu 14 Oct
For 22 years, choreographer Susanna Curtis has been journeying between the place of her birth and the land where she carved out a home and career. Born in Glasgow but based in Nuremberg, Curtis has drawn inspiration from those trips for her latest work, return2you.
‘I travel to and from the cities at least three times a year,’ she explains. ‘And I’m always fascinated by the encounters I make while travelling – conversations with fellow travellers whom I’ll probably never see again; the fact that people often tell complete strangers more of their life history than people they see daily.’
A collaborative work between two
installation artists, two Scottish dancers, two German dancers and Curtis herself, return2you is also inspired by social networking sites such as Facebook, and the wide range of information people choose to share with others. ‘I’m not an active Facebooker, more
of an observer,’ says Curtis. ‘What interests me is how people present themselves in their profile – what they think it’s important to tell the world, and what they may be hiding. The piece is partly about overt presentation and then peeling away layers to see what’s underneath – maybe it’s the people who seem to tell every small detail about themselves who are the ones who have something to hide.’ (Kelly Apter)
PREVIEW MUSICAL SPAMALOT Playhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 18–Sat 23 Oct
If ever a man was able to look on the bright side of life it is Eric Idle. Whether jumping out of cakes in a tutu for Prince Charles in a comical re-enactment of Swan Lake or dressing up in the outfit worn by Emma Thompson in Angels in America to entertain director Mike Nichols, the 67-year-old funny man believes that laughter is the key to a long and glittering career. Enter stage left his musical success Spamalot. Inspired by (or ‘lovingly ripped off from’) the much-loved film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-wrote and starred in, Spamalot has reinvigorated the public’s love for the Pythons around the world.
‘I went to see it last week in Sweden,’ says a beaming Idle, ‘and I’ve seen it in Barcelona, Madrid, Melbourne and Vegas. The great thing about the writing is that it’s so good, so it was about going to the material and thinking, “Right then, how to get to Act II with this”.’ After five years of working on Spamalot, Idle cheerfully admits he never tires of it. ‘Because it’s about King Arthur and the knights, it’s mock-heroic,’ he says. ‘So we have knights prancing about on non- existent horses and singing silly songs. It’s absurd and easy to enjoy and audiences have responded to that.’
The show borrows from what Idle lovingly refers to as Monty Python’s ‘rag bag
of tricks’. ‘Laughter’s a litmus test for the truth. It’s an evolutionary tool, and hopefully everyone gets to enjoy that afresh here.’ (Anna Millar)¡
N A L R A H L E U N A M 84 THE LIST 7–21 Oct 2010