Jo Gatenby ON Tour Reviews

Insights: 5 emerging dance artists perform short works

I was keen to experience some contemporary dance in Edinburgh, since dance is my real passion. So my first show of the Fringe was 'insights'. The show included short pieces (most no longer than 15 minutes in length) from new dance companies.

Companies included: CoDa Dance Company, Eden Dance Works, Jai Hutchison, NineBOBNote Dance Theatre and John Ross.

John Ross: Man Down
Man Down tells the story of one man's journey and psychological struggle to come to terms with the daily torment of working in a war zone. This solo was beautifully choreographed using spoken text, which impacted on the dancers quirky movement. The spirals and fluidity achieved by the dancer were visually exquisite and made for a harrowing yet stunning experience.

Suitability for rural touring: This short piece would work well on the rural touring circuit, the piece involves much floor work so may need to be adapted or only shown in specific venues geared to dance.
I would highly recommend John as both a dancer and choreographer.

As Yet Unknown: NineBOBNote Dance Theatre
A fun, yet very direct piece using music by The Black keys and Electric Youth as it's back drop. The dancers entered in bras and pants with open checked shirts. The piece explored the relationship between the three women on stage, at one minute the women were best friends, the next they were criticising each other. Spoken voice was used to great dramatic effect and often the audience were left wondering how far the relationship of the three women was going to go.
I found the piece uplifting and amusing to watch, I'm not sure it would work well on the Rural touring circuit as I think it would be a difficult sell to other schemes, but I would still potentially book it.

The pieces by Jai Hutchison, Eden Dance Works and Coda Dance Company seemed to heavy and overly emotive to enjoy as an audience member. I don't think any of these pieces could be developed to create full scale pieces for the rural touring circuit.


Country Boy's Struggle- China Plate recommendation

Having booked Country Boy's Struggle through the recent Strategic Touring Bid blind, I wanted to go and see the piece for myself in order to be able to sell it to our promoters more easily.
I took two friends along to see the show, in order to gather their opinions too, my promoter and director also saw the show later in the week.

I honestly can't fault this one man show, it was immaculately performed by Maxwell who managed to portray all the different characters in his life so vividly through rap, music and dialect. I found myself willing Maxwell along on his new venture in London and was lulled into the audience participation. I am now confident that this show will work brilliantly with our young audiences and would also be interested in booking the show again for further dates in Autumn 2013/ Spring 2014.

A Midsummer Nights Dream- China Plate recommendation

I thought this show seemed rather large scale for rural audiences, there was a large cast, set and the production values seemed large scale too.

The play was well performed, although you didn't instantly warm to the actors, as I have in previous productions. There was much to cram into an hour long performance and I left feeling rushed and unfulfilled. This may have had something to do with that I also had to run to the next venue following this show!

I wouldn't book it for rural touring and feel it was a little predictable.

Beulah by The Flanagan Collective

I went to see this show based on the incredible reviews it had been receiving from professional reviews and twitter audiences.

The show explores how we view life, dreams, reality and the after life.  Inspired by William Blake, the show takes you on a journey of how we view our world and the windows available into other people's worlds and time zones. The two actors perform folk music exquisitely throughout the show, which leaves even the youngest audience members mesmerised. A gorgeous little play which would work extremely well on the rural touring circuit and one which I am considering booking for Autumn 2013.