list.co.uk/theatre Previews | DANCE
URBAN DANCE NORDDANCE Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 20 & Sat 21 Nov
From Borgen to The Bridge, and from Henning Mankell to Steig Larsson, our obsession with Scandinavia shows no sign of abating. Which is just as well, because a brand new dance festival is banking on our love of all things Nordic extending to urban dance. ‘We realise we’re asking people to buy tickets to see performers
they’ve never heard of,’ says Morag Deyes, artistic director of Dance Base and curator of NordDance. ‘But we have this connection with the northern lands that’s caught people’s imagination, so I’m hoping they’ll have a sense of adventure – because the artists we’re bringing over are amazing.’ Taking place over two nights, NordDance will feature hip hop talent from Scotland, including performances and workshops by Tony Mills (who co-created in Finland), Ashley Jack and Cultured Mongrel, plus four visiting companies from Sweden and Norway. Live electronic music, traditional folk dance fused with breakdance, and an exploration of hip hop’s macho culture are all on the bill.
DANCE / MUSIC COLLABORATION SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE AND ANDERSSON DANCE Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 13 & Sat 14 Nov; Caird Hall, Dundee, Sun 15 Nov; Eden Court, Inverness, Tue 17 Nov; Music Hall, Aberdeen, Thu 19 Nov
There is no shortage of sedentary moments in a classical musician’s life. Whether they’re down in the orchestra pit or up on the stage – chances are, they’re sitting. Not so with the Scottish Ensemble, who not only perform standing up – but can often be found with a sway in their hips or spring in their elbow. It’s no surprise then to find them collaborating with dancers on their latest
project. Swedish company Andersson Dance has joined forces with the Ensemble to create a new interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. To an outsider, it might look like 11 musicians sharing a stage with five dancers – but choreographer, Örjan Andersson doesn’t see it that way.
‘We have 16 people on stage,’ he says, ‘and all 16 are dancers. Five of them are much better dancers, and 11 of them are much better musicians – but the whole ensemble is dancing.’ So ubiquitous is the Goldberg Variations, everyone would recognise at least
‘It’s fascinating to see how hip hop and urban dance is re-translated in part of it – which proved an exciting challenge for Andersson.
countries that have nothing to do with places like Harlem or Brooklyn,’ says Deyes. ‘Hip hop in the Nordic countries is either very lyrical and poetic, or it’s furious – and the fury lies in the women, not the men.’ (Kelly Apter) ‘Some of them are so well known, they’re like elevator music – and that’s a problem because it can feel boring,’ he says. ‘So we had to make people experience this wonderful music in a new way – and I think we’ve succeeded in that.’ (Kelly Apter)
TRIPLE BILL RAMBERT DANCE COMPANY Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thu 26–Sat 28 Nov
It’s 1984, and Mark Baldwin is travelling around the UK on a tour bus. A young dancer with Rambert, his main preoccupation is finding a place to warm up and stretch – but he’s also acutely aware of what’s happening in the towns they drive past and through. ‘We kept reading in the local papers about all these things
that were happening with the miners’ strike,’ he recalls. ‘It was one of those things which, at the end of it, you felt you had really lived through something.’ Fast forward 30 years and Baldwin, now artistic director of the company he once danced in, is revisiting that pivotal time in British history.
Inspired by the strike, which devastated mining communities across the north of England and Scotland, Dark Arteries features a newly commissioned score by Gavin Higgins – performed live at each date on Rambert’s UK tour by a different local brass band.
‘It’s lovely to have so many people on stage,’ says Baldwin. ‘There are 21 dancers in the piece, plus about 35 in the band, who sit at the back of the stage behind riot shields which have been bent into music stands. ‘It’s rare to have great big pieces in contemporary dance, so
I’m really pleased about that – because once you get the whole company on stage, with the brass band, it’s quite powerful.’
For the Edinburgh date, Dark Arteries will sit alongside Didy Veldman’s The Three Dancers, inspired by the Picasso painting of the same name, and Kim Brandstrup’s Transfigured Night, inspired by Schoenberg’s 1899 score.
‘Didy’s piece has these funny little narratives and is quite witty and dry,’ says Baldwin, ‘and Transfigured Night is about a woman who’s having an affair and discovers she’s pregnant. So it’s a very narrative-driven evening.’ (Kelly Apter)
5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016 THE LIST 119