LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL PREVIEWS & REVIEWS FESTIVAL DANCE
RHYTHMIC CIRCUS – FEET DON’T FAIL ME NOW Hugely impressive dance and music collaboration ●●●●●
Rhythmic Circus are a group of friends who hail mainly from Minnesota, and their strong, close connection is one of the things that makes Feet Don’t Fail Me Now so enjoyable from the outset. The quartet of four hugely impressive tap dancers
is centre-stage, but throughout, the percussive clatter is complemented and reinforced by an incredibly tight R&B band. Everyone on stage is given a solo spot, most
prominently Aaron ‘Heatbox’ Heaton, whose beat- boxing virtuosity has to be heard to be believed, but there’s a lovely sense of camaraderie among the 11-strong ensemble that doesn’t take long to infect the audience. Highlights include a kind of beatboxing/
hoofing battle and a military band pastiche in full Sgt Pepper regalia. You may try to resist but the ‘Boogie Monster’ is gonna get you, and even the biggest grump in the audience will end up leaving with a huge smile all over their face. (Allan Radcliffe) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 27 Aug (not 20), 3.40pm, £15–£17 (£13–£15).
COLLISION Dance floor mash-up ●●●●●
Promising us a show where ‘styles collide’, London- based dance company Lite Fantastic is as good as its word. In one routine, performed to the Labrinth/ Tinie Tempah track ‘Earthquake’, a couple starts off ballroom dancing, moves into breakdancing and finally onto ballet.
It makes for a pleasant enough show, with some interesting ideas, such as performing a Charleston to rap music. But there are also some duds here, including a pointless routine on four blocks, which wouldn’t look out of place in a pole dancing club, and an attempt to match up sensual belly dancing with Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. Also performing their show Prodigious at this
year’s Fringe, this company clearly knows how to think outside the box, which is to be applauded. The technical ability of the young dancers comes in at varying levels, but there’s a general sense of competency throughout. Although when Michael Naylor takes to the floor (he of the ballroom/break- dance/ballet mash-up) there’s only one place to direct your eyes – at him. (Kelly Apter) ■ C, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 2.40pm, £8.50– £10.50 (£4.50–£8.50).
ADITI MANGALDAS DANCE COMPANY Indian Kathak re-invented
‘It’s interesting and challenging for me to explore the unknown,’ says Aditi Mangaldas, on the phone from her company’s base in New Delhi. Which is exactly what the Indian choreographer has been doing for the past 21 years, since the formation of the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company. After two successful visits to the Edinburgh Fringe, in 2001 and 2005, Mangaldas is bringing her
unique brand of Kathak dance back to Scotland, but this time at the invitation of the Edinburgh International Festival.
Inspired by our desire to search for new things, Uncharted Seas is one of two ensemble pieces Mangaldas has re-worked for the occasion. In terms of costumes, music and dance, the piece has been created in the traditional Kathak style. However, Mangaldas has attempted to do something new with the structure, giving the viewer room to manoeuvre.
‘Classical Kathak is usually done as a solo, in a lecture/demonstration form,’ she says. ‘You explain what you are going to do, then go into the process. Which gives rise to amazing technical possibility, but I find that the magic is lost. But within the classical style, there is a possibility of letting the audience use their own imaginations, and Uncharted Seas is my attempt at doing that.’ The second half of the double-bill, Timeless, takes a more modern approach, brought about in part
by the dancers’ additional training in yoga and the Indian martial arts form, Kalaripayattu. ‘It’s like sowing the seeds of Kathak, and watering it with contemporary sensibilities,’ explains Mangaldas. ‘So that it sprouts a plant that has roots of the classical tradition, and yet has grown beyond its format in every respect – in the movement vocabulary, in its presentation, and in the overall feel.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Royal Lyceum Theatre, 473 2000, Sat 18–Sun 19 Aug, 7.30pm, £10–£30.
AFRICA CALLING 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 educational shows and, in Africa Calling, takes us on a journey through African identity, using traditional music and short sketches that explore the idea of multiple countries and tribes melting together as one Africa. Some of the sketches start a little obscurely and run on too long, leaving you hankering after more of their sublime voices or dancing, which is rich in flat-foot stomping and played off the drumbeats. But there is a point to the short scenes, locating each performance within its cultural context, introducing the notion of customs overlapping different countries but belonging to all of them. As the final scene unfolds – a reminiscence about working in a South African mine, gumboot dancing with Sudanese, Zimbabweans and Zambians – you can feel the soul of what Grassroots is trying so urgently to capture. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Paradise in Augustine’s, 510 0022, until 27 Aug (not 13 & 20), 5.55pm, £10 (£8).
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