F E S T I VA L DA N C E | Reviews
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THE CHOSEN Reflection on death proves to be full of life ●●●●●
Choreographer Kally Lloyd-Jones’ piece about death and dying opens with the loud throb of a heartbeat. Six dancers sit on mirrored cubes looking relaxed, apparently completely unaware of the sound of life that’s booming out of the speakers around them.
Lloyd-Jones wanted to create a work that explores the universal, complex reality of death, following a horrible year where she lost four people, including her best friend. Although The Chosen is about dying (the title is a reference to Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, where the chosen one is sacrificed, but also honoured), what the show mostly focuses on is how people go about the living part, knowing that the dying part is unavoidably in the post.
The movement is often intensely physical; athletic, near-violent,
exhilarating spins and falls follow more stationary sections including one sequence where the dancers tap feet, bite nails, sigh impatiently then pace the floor, as if to remind us how much of life is spent waiting for something. That’s a long section compared to the brief, beautiful flashes of love; two boys tenderly locked in each other’s arms for a few seconds, friends wrapping arms around shoulders or a brief burst of grinning and partying.
The dancers from Glasgow-based Company Chordelia are soaked in sweat by the end, having rippled themselves through swirling patterns of ebbing water as a soundtrack of crashing waves plays, then interlocking limbs and dangling torsos off each other in a clumsy, entangled relationship section, with some incredible paired work. A fast-forwarded section of twitchy, hurried actions is also impressive, another reflection on the passage of time; sometimes dragging, then suddenly speeding by. The subject matter could have made for a maudlin piece, but instead the dancers coax out ideas about how we waste or embrace the time we spend being alive. (Claire Sawers) n Dance Base, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5pm, £13 (£11).
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THE DESK Balletic masterwork of life in a cult ●●●●●
FRONTX Uplifting cross-artform collaboration ●●●●● STEVE REICH PROJECT Curious hybrid of movement and music ●●●●●
Finnish physical theatre group Reetta Honkakoski Company presents a brilliant piece of wordless storytelling, based on the founder’s own experience of a cult. Taking the role of a dictator in this balletic masterwork involving only six desks and a lot of tightly synchronised movement, Honkakoski and the rest of the all-female cast explore group behaviour, totalitarianism, human ego and toxic seduction through corporeal mime. Watching infighting, backstabbing, sycophancy
and narcissism danced out in a series of impressive sequences, while their beloved leader casts a sinister spell over them with manipulative power games, is terrifyingly well done. The subtle creep of power is portrayed with micro movements from Honkakoski while the fear and adulation from her disciples is conveyed with precise patterns of frenzied flicks of hands reading books, or eyes darting about in terror. The soundtrack is minimal and tense, using simple percussion and melody to build suspense, while the facial expressions, use of the wooden desks and a particularly powerful pas de deux on wheels between the leader and her uniformed lackey make this a very memorable Fringe highlight. (Claire Sawers). n Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 11.35am, £10 (£8).
70 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019
This heartfelt show directed by Belgian breakdance champion Milan Emmanuel is an immersive blend of live art, hip hop, mime and classical singing. Six international artists – all of whom Emmanuel met while working as a street performer – weave their stories together to create an empowering tale that celebrates resilience and a passion for performance. We are introduced to Micael, a talented b-boy
who moved to Belgium from the Ivory Coast as a teenager; Slowmotion Phax, who was part of the first generation of hip hop artists in France in the 1970s; Kosovan burlesque dancer Hello Shelly, who confronts ideas of femininity through pole dancing and Thai boxing; and Iranian-Australian Roya the Destroya, a dancer and actress born with one leg. Their movements are soundtracked by Walloon singer Aurélie Castin, whose style spans opera to jazz and R&B, and Big Ben, who has twice been crowned Belgium's Champion of Beatboxing. Their musical offerings elevate the show; Big Ben's beatboxing in particular is seriously impressive. And while the transitions feel clunky in places, ultimately FrontX is an uplifting hour of movement, music and story. (Yasmin Sulaiman) n Summerhall, until 24 Aug (not 12, 14, 21), 3pm, £9 (£7).
Belgian director, choreographer and visual artist Isabella Soupart collaborated with the members of MP4 Quartet for this intermittently effective hybrid production. The work draws on three Steve Reich compositions: ‘Different Trains’, a propulsive and layered evocation of his Jewish-American childhood during World War Two; ‘WTC 9/11’, pinned to the September 11 terrorist atrocities; and, sandwiched in between, ‘Pendulum Music.’ In the first and longest section, a dancer (Shantala Pèpe) dashes sharply around the stage, sometimes speaking – largely unintelligibly – into a microphone. Meanwhile the expressionless players saw away at their instruments while also shifting location depending on where Pèpe positions their music stands. The action is pretty po-faced and Teutonic, qualities that mark the performance as a whole.
Excellent musicianship is the saving grace, along with Kurt D’Haeseleer’s eerily distressed video of people who appear to be progressing forward on a beach at an alarmingly slanted angle. Near the close, there’s also a welcome apotheosis of sorts, as Pèpe spins as if trying to understand what has happened to herself and the world. (Donald Hutera) n Dance Base, until 18 Aug (not 12), 7.20pm, £13 (£11).