Fringe dance reviews: not for glory | Collaborator | Snow | CODE | Common Ground

not for glory | Brian Hartley

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

not for glory ★★★★

Dance Base (Venue 22) until 23 August

An adolescence spent being compared to others, and working hard only to be told you’re not good enough, will do something to a person. At the very least, it will colour the endeavour you’ve invested your heart and soul in. That’s the central premise of not for glory, a collaboration between three people who know how it feels.

Jack Anderson grew up immersed in the world of competitive Irish dancing, Charlotte Mclean’s teenage years came with a steely focus on Highland dancing, and Malin Lewis spent their youth on the Isle of Skye heavily engaged in bagpipe competitions. The consequence of which was that, in one way or another, all three fell out of love with their artform. During this fun mix of dance, live music, spoken text, and a wee bit of audience interaction involving biscuits, we learn their story.

Costume designer Cleo Rose McCabe situates the trio squarely in present day, but with a nod to the past, through her funky, off-kilter tartan ensembles. Dressed for success (although no longer, as the title confirms, chasing glory), Anderson, Mclean and Lewis open the show with a mashup of movement and music; echoes of tradition wrapped up in a clubby beat. We’re also treated to a superb solo from Anderson, demonstrating why he did so well in those Irish dancing championships he entered.

It’s perhaps in the moments of connection, however, that not for glory has the biggest impact. Mclean’s intentionally blurred recollection of performing at Burns Suppers in front of drunken guests, Anderson’s hilarious impersonation of a competition adjudicator, and Lewis’ new-found love of pibroch. In fact, it’s the reclaimed fondness for dancing and playing that swells our hearts, now that all three are doing it on their own terms. Kelly Apter

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

Collaborator ★★★★

Pleasance at EICC (Venue 150b) until 22 August

Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey met at circus school 23 years ago and fell in love. Upon graduation, they made a pact: to stay together as a couple, but never collaborate on a show. But as Mooney explains at the start of this deeply moving homage to long-lasting relationships, that agreement quickly fell by the wayside.

Over two decades, one child, and many shows later, Mooney and Harvey decided to take stock. Their company, Ockham’s Razor was still going strong, as was their relationship, but they hadn’t been on stage for over five years. Had their performance life come to an end without them even realising? Collaborator finds them putting this to the test. At the age of 47, this may well be their swansong, but at least they’re drawing a deliberate line in the sand, rather than just drifting away.

Each section captures a different moment in time, which anyone who has ever created anything will instantly recognise. More precisely, if you’ve ever made a long-term relationship work, you’ll see yourself reflected here, too. Climbing up into an aerial cage, Mooney and Harvey perfectly illustrate the push and pull of asserting your independence, while simultaneously offering support. Foot upon foot, hand in hand, they create visual metaphors for easing each other’s burdens.

Between each scene, the hugely personable Mooney steps up to the mic (or hands it to a reluctant Harvey), and explains various theories, from wave energy to coupled pendulums. It’s all beautifully subtle but patently obvious. Meanwhile, Holly Khan’s original score underpins every emotion, as the duo move from harmonious collaboration to what Mooney calls ‘the bad days’.

If you’re looking for fast-paced, high-stakes thrills, this isn’t the place for you. But as an examination of love, longevity, hard-won skill, and intelligent theatricality, Mooney and Harvey have got you covered. Kelly Apter

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Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus

Snow ★★★★

C ARTS, C Venues, C aurora (Venue 6) until 23 August

Snow is Snow White told almost entirely through movement. Our heroine appears as a girl, then a woman, in a yellow dress and sparkling red headband, against a score mixing strings, synths and voice. Several numbers reveal themselves to be string arrangements of contemporary chart hits, familiar melodies made strange – a clever way into a story that audiences will already know.

The cast is large for a Fringe show, and where size can mean an uneven performance, here the stage is held equally, with precision. This is a mature, impressive piece by Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre, beyond the years of its cast, and the choreography, by Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya, is exact – even when the ensemble is at its fullest.

The production’s central image is the Evil Queen’s mirror, reimagined, and refracted, as dancers in black bodysuits and glittering masks. Liquid, balletic sequences alternate with sharper, contemporary movement, and the costuming – layered skirts, crowns of foliage – is inspired. A backdrop shifting between black and white marks light and dark beats, though the device can feel arbitrary against the richness of theatrical elements already on stage. A trampoline sequence featuring the seven dwarves is also an inventive touch.

Breath work is used sparingly and always well-timed, lending the piece unexpected moments of power. The Evil Queen’s transformation into an old woman, staged through a hood and the poisoned apple, is perhaps the production’s best-executed sequence, while the closing scene, where the prince discovers Snow White, can be laboured, though this amplifies the emotion at its heart. Throughout, it asks whether perfection itself is the poisoned apple: the promise of beauty, with the potential to consume whoever reaches for it. Josephine Balfour-Oatts

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

CODE ★★★

Heriot Bridge at Pleasance Grassmarket (Venue 28) until 27 August

With an estimated 46,000 young people caught up in illegal drug sale and associated knife crime, this dynamic show from Justice in Motion has an important message to deliver. Namely, that any teenager can get caught up in ‘county lines’ (so-called for the mobile phones used to connect dealers with their recruits), regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or socio-economic status. So if there’s an adolescence in your life, look out for the signs.

Of course, there are myriad ways this could come to pass, and CODE can only tell one story, but they’ve incorporated commonalities that will ring true with many anxious parents. The desire for money and things (in this case a new pair of Nikes and cash for the family’s beleaguered food budget), a need to belong (here, an outlet from being bullied at school), and, of course, excitement.

Justice in Motion doesn’t sugar-coat the reasons this lifestyle seems attractive, or the dangerous, violent and sometimes life-threatening consequences of getting involved. If the athletic parkour and superb trial bike stunts overshadow the dramatic action, which is given little space to bed down (and is often hard to hear), but hooks in younger viewers, then perhaps the end justifies the means. Kelly Apter

DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE & CIRCUS

Common Ground ★★★

Dance Base (Venue 22) until 16 August

Dance is often seen as the preserve of the young, but increasingly, older dance groups are proving their mettle. What better way to demonstrate this, than to put the two age groups together. This thoroughly enjoyable show, featuring Lothian Youth Dance Company (LYDC) and PRIME, illustrates how nimble vigour and pep eventually give way to maturity and experiential sageness – both of which have much to offer.

In Table for Two and FLIES (the former depicting a lively dinner date, the latter a rendering of Golding’s Lord of the Flies) LYDC convey a real sense of fun, and an ability to inhabit a beat with genuine purpose. While choreographers Kally Lloyd-Jones and Malcolm Sutherland have created two deeply meaningful pieces for PRIME, tapping perceptively into the hearts and minds of the dancers.

Lloyd-Jones’ THE LINE, is over-commitment writ large. Carrying, pulling and pushing each other, with the occasional wry look to the audience, the performers capture the burden of responsibility with insight and wit. Sutherland’s Allelois turns the group into a Greek chorus, carving the stage into patterns with their bodies, then closing back into a beautiful show of togetherness. Tightly executed and replete with emotion, both works indicate these 60+ dancers are indeed in their prime. Kelly Apter

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