DANCE LIST
oAficE
FOOT NOTES
I Booking lnlormation Phone 332 5057. Box office at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is open from 10am—5pm. Mon—Fri prior to the event and from mam—8.30pm from .‘~~ l0.luly. Tickets to Third Eye Centre cventsare also available from the Third [iye Centre Box Office. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521 . Cones are available tosenior citizens. unemployed and people under 18.
I Special Offer As your purse might be stretched ifyou are a real enthusiast. Focus on Dance are offering three performances for the price of two and five classes for the price of four. The offer appliesonly to different events at the same price.
I Enquiries Before the event 03] 226 2428. During the Focus week contact venues for information.
I Focus on Dance Club Third Eye Centre. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. Open Tue 5—Sun lUJuly from ‘).3(l~late. Late Bar.
Whether you've been on your feet all day or watching someone else on theirs. the Focus on Dance Club isopen and ready to resuscitate and provide the oasis and meeting place vital to all audience members and participators.
SUNDAY 3
I Street Dancing George Square. Glasgow. 2pm. A fabulous free start to what must be one the biggest dance festivals in Britain.
I Dance Advance RSAMD Athenaeum. 6.30pm. £4.50(£2.50).
Dance Advance have set
themselves an admirable task: to fill a need for a contemporary . chainber-si/cd British dance group working from a classical base. Sadly their current repertoire is not up to their technical prowess— this company ‘s potential isyet to be tapped.
MONDAY 4
I Stirling Youth Dance and Chapeltown Youth Dance Theatre RSAM D Chandler Theatre. 1pm. £2.50 (£1 .50). Throughout the week. Scottish companies will perform a regular lunchtime slot.
An impressive programme from Stirling Youth which includes choreography by Tamara McLorg (new director at Dundee Rep Dance Company) and V’illmore James (Phoenix Dance) gets the week underway. Chapeltown Youth Dance Theatre from Leeds make a lively second half. They too perform work by well-known choreographers — Robert North. Aletta Collins and Royston Muldoom.
I RUSSTDD Steps RSA MD Stevenson l lall. 6.30pm. £3 (£2). Focus jumps onto the ‘glasnost' bandwagon bringing two dancers from the Kirov Ballet. Leningrad. second only to Moscow‘s Bolshoi Ballet. to present the showy classical face of Russian dance. Natalia Bolshokova and Vadim Guliaev visit Britain for the first time. ambassadors of the skill and
Dance Advance, nsnmu Atnenaeum, Sunday 3 July.
Their image is progressive, their pedigree is good, and they‘re portable Pity their repertoire isn‘t up to scratch. This sextet oi ex-Boyal Ballet/Sadler’s Wells‘ dancers/choreographers have set themselves an admirable task: to till a need for a contemporary, chamber-sized British dance group working from a classical base. Not only are they deft dancers, but they perform to live musical accompaniment.
So what's wrong? The late Choc-San Goh's ‘Momenls Remembered’ is supposed to be a lyrical ballet about three stages of love. You could have tooled me. Dance Advance does it in one shade of pleasant anonymity. ‘Classilied’, collectively created is a cutely theatrical, throwaway, lonely-heart column caricature. As for Kenneth MacMillan’s specially commissioned, Hamlet-inspired ‘Sea of Troubles' all I can say is alas poor Shakespeare. A few redeeming movements aside, MacMillan‘s stupeiying, reductive and painfully dated histrionics make minimalistic mincemeat ol the dancers and The Bard. This company’s potential is yet to be tapped. (Donald Hutera)
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precision which has characterised the regal Russian style for many years.
Swop 'Steps' for ‘Steppes' and you have the other half of the programme - a swirling. colourful demonstration of Russia's folk—dances by Mujhamadi Abdurasulov and Davlat Kholov. Hailing from the southern Soviet State of ’l‘adzhikistan (not quite steppland. but the pun was a nice idea). these twocontrast the ballet programme with a much older tradition — the dance of the people.
This promises to be a delightfulevening and an opportunity to see Russian performers on a more intimate scale than their large visiting companies normally allow. I Pushkala Gopal and Unnikrishnan: “South Indian Splendour‘ RSAMD Athenaeum. 8.30pm. £4.50 (£2.50). ‘Rings on her fingers. bells on her toes. She shall have music wherever she goes.‘ This rhyme could easily apply to the Indian dancers. Pushkala (iopal and L'nnikrishnan. Rows of ankle bells mark time as theirfeet stomp to the beats of Kathakali and elegant hands turn the classical movements of Bharata Natyam. A performance not to be missed for those who enjoy the rythms of Indian dance. as this male female duo are top-ranking performers. And for the uninitiated— much recommended. The more you see
dian dance. the more entranced and addicted you become.
TUESDAY 5
I Area One and Spring Lothian Youth Dance Company in Association with the Scottish Post Office Board RSAMD Chandler Theatre. lpm. £2.50 (£1 .50). Based in St Andrews' Area One is Fife's longest established group. Here. they show new work by Elaine Knight and a special commission by Neil Fisher. ()n the same bill. Spring. Lothian's youth dance group. shows work by their director Tracy l lawkcs. and Carolyn Gavin and Frank McConnell.
I Antics Community Dance ‘Walch This Space. . . it May Move' RSAMD Chandler Theatre. (i.3llpin. £3 (£2). Another group from File. Antics. present work devised by children at a Focus class earlierthat
same day.
I Second Stride and Man Jumping: ‘Weighingthe Heart‘ RSAMD Athenaeum. £4.50(£2.50). A bizarre but bewitching tale by Ian Spink. artistic director of Second Stride. Since its formation in 1982 by Ian Spink and Siobhan Davies. this contemporary company has become established as one of daring and innovation. This piece. premiered in 1987. is a beautiful fantasy set to the musicof cult band ‘Man Jumping' who will appear live at the performance. (See panel).
WEDNESDAY 6
I Khoros Dance Theatre RSAMD Chandler Theatre. lpm. £2.50(£l .50). With dance in decline in Edinburgh. it is good to see at least one company based in that city keeping up the good work. Khoros are made up ofprofessional and semi-professional dancers and their work is entertaining. often amusing and fun. This year. they have a new programme. the centrepiece of which is a dance by London-based choreographer Annabelle Meadmore. Tracy Hawkes (artistic director of Edinburgh‘s youth dance company Spring). Catherine Ward and Pat Crichton. all company members. have also choregraphed pieces for this programme.
I ‘Russian Sieps' RSAMD Stevenson Hall. 6.30pm. £3 (£2).
See Mon 4 July.
I Adventures in Motion Pictures RSAMD Athenaeum. 8.30pm. £4.50 (£2.50).
.\’ot the Hollywood version — AMD are dancers (maybe movies) who make all their adventureson stage. Dances with titles like ‘(irecian 2000' and ‘Does Your (‘rimplene (io All Shiny When You Rub‘." promise whack with a theme. A young English company who throw dance. narrative. comment and humour into a visual melting pot . ( See panel).
THURSDAY 7
I Borders Youth Dance Group and Footnotes Dance Company RSAMD Chandler Theatre. lpm. £2.50(£1.50). Borders Dance perform work by their director Jane Houston and Footnotes from
Dunfermline present dance by their director (iillian Armstrong.
I The Able Body Dance Company ‘Elements' RSAMD Stevenson Hall. 6pm. £3 (£2). The Scottish Chamber Orchestra join a group of40 disabled and able-bodied performers from Aberdeen. An inspired collaboration. the group describe the four elements.
I Belinda Neave Third Eye Centre. 350 Sauchiehall Street. 7.30pm. £3.50(£2.50). Last year. Cardiff-based Belinda .\'eave asked several choreographers to work with heron a new programme ofsolo pieces. lan Spink. (‘ieoff Moore. Jenny Bayliss. Caroline Lamb and Jessica Cohan were those chosen — the results were blended together into one interlinked piece by director Caroline Noh. Light. the spoken word and a spare. oriental set make this an unusual collaboration.
I Adzido- Pan African Ensemble “Coming Home' RSAMD Athenaeurn. 8.30pm. £4.50 (£2.50). A dance festival these days would not be worth its tutu without at least one African group. The popularityof black rythm is one which has slowly made its way through our own rock music and dance and is now in a class of its own. The energy of the beat is irresistable and breaks down the inhibitions ofeven the most sedentary lives. What is so thrillingis that these dances manage to penetrate contemporary life to its core without being a fad of fashion - - their roots are firmlyset in tradition. The Pan African linsemble is a group of about 30 dancers. singersand musicians from all over Africa.
24Thc List 24 June — 7 July 1988