EDINBURGH
AUGUST 13-14 2009

Early morning in August, it must be time to head for the airport for my third annual pilgrimage to Edinburgh’s Dance Base to “give dance a chance” as Morag Deyes, Artistic Director, exhorts.  Each year, Dance Base programs a multitude of mixed bills that run at different times, day and night, over at least ten days, giving audiences and visiting curators a good chance to see the work.  It’s really worth it, with tickets at only £5 and a lovely cafe where you can re-charge between shows without having to deal with the crowds (or the rain) outside.

The fare ranges widely each year – this season encompassing dance for children (the delightful Dilly Dilly by Tabula Rasa Dance Company), youth dance (Something About Others by Nottingham Youth Dance in association with New English Contemporary Ballet), contemporary Bharatanatyam (Ring Cycle by Shamita Ray), and everything in between and beyond.  Fearghus Ó Conchúir with Li Ke and Yin Yi reprised Dialogue, a dance conversation between cultures and between dance and sound.  Appel, by Company Décalage, brought street dance and capoeira vocabulary together with Indian flute and tabla.  Company Chameleon’s Rites featured two dancers to watch – Anthony Missen and Kevin Turner.  Watch IT, by Anthony Mills, was a send-up of a man thoroughly obsessed by his television.  Laila Diallo showed The Wayside, a subtle and moving solo and Portuguese choreographer Pere Faura danced with Gene Kelly in the projected film of Singin’ in the Rain in a piece entitled This is a Picture of a Person I Don’t Know.

In addition to Ó Conchúir, Irish artists included Fidget Feet, presenting the energetic aerial dance RAW offsite at Out of the Blue Drill Hall; Rex Levitates’ Unsung was due up the following week.

Among other Fringe dance shows, there was a showcase organized by Jodi Kaplan from New York featuring seven U.S. companies from five cities and David Parker and The Bang Group’s riotous Show Down, inspired by the 1940’s musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Despite the construction of a tram line that had streets torn up all over town, the jostling crowds were generally cheerful as they gathered around clowns, drummers, bagpipe players, fire eaters etc.  Festival fever electrifies the air; you could stay for weeks and still not see everything on offer.  It’s an exciting, if overwhelming, experience.
Two days is barely enough to scratch the surface.