LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL REVIEWS FESTIVAL DANCE
TIME FOR FUN Russian troupe prove handy when it comes to dance ●●●●● MOTHER AFRICA Acrobatics with African style ●●●●●
There is so much joy in this circus it is like a vitamin injection of sunshine. Papa Africa is our ringmaster, a classic red-nosed clown, but the similarities to standard circus end there. All of the acts are satu- rated with a heady African flavour and costumes that are a feast of colour and texture for the eyes. Baraka the unicyclist breaks the mould by making his climax stunt on the world’s smallest bike after conquering some of the larger ones, acrobatics are stretched high into the air aided by a dizzying tower of chairs, and gumboot dancers stage a wild dance- off against traditional tap. But it’s not the stunts that impress the most here. Instead it’s the heartbeat of infectious music and drums, the soaring a cappella voices and the undulations that ripple through the dancers. Theresa Makita Muteta playing the gourd- shaped mbira is a highlight, but really almost every minute is pure delight. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 27 Aug (not 13 & 20), 2.20pm, £15–£17.50 (£14–£15).
HI-KICK Engaging onstage five-a-side match is a game of two halves ●●●●●
Virtuoso soccer skills have become a staple of telly variety shows like Britain’s Got Talent. But when was the last time you witnessed a five-a-side football match recreated on stage, with multiple balls flying in every direction? While this show from Seol and Company features a loose narrative about an underdog team deter-
mined to take on a gang of cocky bullies with chic haircuts, it’s really a pretext for some enjoyable physical comedy, clowning and acrobatics, all of which involves balls of all sizes and a welcome helping of audience interaction. There’s plenty of mazy dribbling, passing and shooting throughout, but the real fun comes from the slapstick, the infectious sense of camaraderie between the members of the rag-tag team, and the slight suspense of wondering how these plucky amateurs are going to fare in the final reckoning against their rivals. (I wonder if you can guess what happens?)
The choreography is generally tight, incorporating familiar football moves as motifs for some
engaging routines, but the whole package is a little chaotic, with the odd mistake creeping in here and there.
This doesn’t seem to perturb the audience, however, a couple of whom are delighted to be invited on to the platform to take part in one scene featuring a gentle hybrid sport that looks like a cross between football and volleyball. And when we’re asked to take part in a Mexican wave prior to the big match, well, the crowd doesn’t quite go wild, but we certainly throw ourselves into it with gusto. (Allan Radcliffe) ■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 27 Aug (not 13, 20), 4.05pm, £13–£15 (£11–£13).
It’s the hands rather than the feet that do the danc- ing 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 giant shapes to a soundtrack that shifts from Grieg’s Piano Concerto to Swan Lake to Flower of Scotland.
The show’s most successful sketches come either
when they use their hands as puppets – a parody of the cygnet dance from Swan Lake is wonder- fully done, starting with dinky dextrous fingers then reprised as a full-arm version – or when the UV light is on them, picking out their white disembodied gloves, making their arms float like an artist’s brush strokes from one image to the next. A Picasso- esque face melts into an opening flower, Nessie becomes a Highland dancer. In these sections the effect of animation in action
is so strong it’s easy to forget there are humans attached to the floating arms, let alone a whole team of them working in harmony. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, until 27 Aug (not 13 & 20), 2.30pm, £11 (£10).
WATCH IT! Small-screen addiction writ large ●●●●●
Watching too much television is bad for you. This is not a new piece of information, the psychology behind why has been well documented. But if peo- ple only created shows about new subject matters, there’d be a lot of empty stages, so we can’t really hold this against performer/choreographer Tony Mills. If you can push the ‘tell us something we don’t
know’ feeling aside, he does an admirable job filling a solo hour with contemporary dance, dance theatre and visual trickery. Slumped in an armchair, remote in hand, Mills explores the life of a man so addicted to the box that he can’t even go outside.
At one point, he even likens the television to his girlfriend, using adjectives that work for both a styl- ish new flat screen and a beautiful woman. Some clever editing pieces together clips from classic films and TV programmes, which Mills interacts with. But the most visually impressive moment comes when he runs ‘inside’ the screen, completely consumed by his addiction. (Kelly Apter) ■ Zoo Southside, 662 6892, until 27 Aug (not 14 & 21), 1pm, £12.50 (£10).
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