DANCE | Reviews & previews 98 THE LIST 20 Mar–17 Apr 2014
TAP TAP FACTORY Edinburgh Playhouse, Mon 31 Mar ●●●●●
First there was Stomp, then came Tap Dogs. Now urban percussion and macho tap dance merge in French director Vincent Pausanias’ crowd-pleasing Tap Factory. Combining whipcrack footwork and grubby dungarees, Pausanias’ production brings tap back to its rough rhythmic routes of the American crossover dance that evolved from early British settlers and West African slaves – before Fred and Ginger made it flash and dainty. The setting is a testosterone-fuelled factory, the props
scaffolding, ladders, sand and danger-marked oil drums, all used to offset a palette of different rhythms and dynamics. Indeed the range of beats in Gilles Guenat’s midway solo is dazzling. One moment he's scraping his toes through light- foot syncopation, the next his heels are drumming a Celtic current that wouldn’t sound out of place in Riverdance. But there’s an extra element to this show, and that’s
the edge of physical comedy with a very French feel. Pausanias is innocent, posturing and disparaging in turn as he drums up clapping rivalry between slices of audience, or parodies jazz double bass using a broom, string and oil drum. Jérémie Champagne, too, is gifted in the art of elegant slapstick; his first solo whizzes by so comically fast you wonder if there is anywhere left for him to go next (there is).
Some segments in the first half feel disappointingly fleeting – Konan Kouassi’s hypnotic body-popping-African fusion is only just getting going when it comes to an end – but by the time the ensemble come together for a big band dance-off in the penultimate number, those Fred-and- Ginger-style dainty feet mean that all is forgiven. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Seen at Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, Thu 13 Mar.
HIP HOP / CONTEMPORARY COMPAGNIE KAFIG: BOXE BOXE Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tue 1 & Wed 2 Apr
Picture a breakdance battle: two opponents squaring up, using their skill and agility to beat each other into submission. Now picture a boxing match. Aside from the obvious physical contact in the latter, there are more than a few similarities. Trained as a boxer before discovering the world of dance, artistic director Mourad Merzouki was acutely aware of those comparisons and has turned them into Compagnie Käfig’s dynamic new show Boxe Boxe. Punchbags, boxing gloves, silk dressing gowns, a referee: all the iconic images of boxing are in
there, alongside eight performers delivering Merzouki’s fluid blend of hip hop and contemporary dance. ‘There are so many similarities between boxing and dance,’ says French-born Merzouki. ‘So I’ve tried to em phasise all the movements of boxing, through dance. I used all these new tools as ways to feed the choreography – a way to evolve the dance and make it richer.’
To add spice to an already fascinating mixture, Merzouki recruited a string quartet to appear live on stage and interact with his dancers. So, instead of the heavy beats usually associated with hip hop dance theatre, we have works by Schubert, Ravel, Philip Glass and Glen Miller. ‘With each show I create, I try to give the audience something new,’ says Merzouki, ‘and to have a new collaboration that they would not expect, so they are surprised by what they see. With Boxe Boxe, the challenge was not to show just hip hop or just boxing – that’s why the classical music is there, to create yet another surprise.’ (Kelly Apter)
BALLROOM / LATIN DANCE ’TIL DAWN Edinburgh Playhouse, Thu 3–Sat 5 Apr
The Strictly Come Dancing tree has sprouted a number of branches in recent years, with varying results. Of all the stage shows created by the BBC programme’s professional dancers, Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace’s Midnight Tango met with the biggest seal of approval, from both critics and audiences – and with good reason. An entertaining mix of superb Argentine tango, pathos, drama and strong musicianship,
Midnight Tango played for three years, often to repeat audiences. But a need to try something new prompted the duo to push their speciality – tango – into the background, and showcase some of their other skills, as seen on Strictly. ‘We had a lot of pressure, because Midnight Tango was so successful,’ admits Cacace. ‘So we needed people to come back and be wowed in a different way. We’ve both danced ballroom and Latin for 20-odd years of our lives, and we thought we would like to do a bit more of that, as well as the tango.’ The result is Dance ’Til Dawn, a light-hearted dance show set in 1940s Los Angeles, full of
Hollywood-style glitz and glamour. ‘We’ve brought the worlds of musical theatre and ballroom dancing together,’ explains Cacace. ‘So we’ve got some fantastic singing, big band music and a more complex story, with a murder plot, gangsters and police. We’ve sewn it together so that the dancing is the main thing that tells the story – but we also have a narrator, who plays a detective, so that people can keep up with the plot.’ (Kelly Apter)