Dance Base Announces Programme for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This year, the Dance Base Festival programme is linked by a sense of connection and identity; welcoming 21 shows, from 12 countries, to perform under one roof as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017.

Now in its 16th year, the Dance Base Festival showcases professional companies on an international stage; opening its doors to a wide range of dance styles from across the globe.

Performers from countries such as Canada, India and Korea will join Scottish, English and Irish-based companies in a programme that showcases the venue's reputation and commitment to audiences and the dance community, and reflects Dance Base's international credentials.

Exploring timeless themes such as ageing and environment, playing with gender and identity, probing the mysteries of the mind and the poetry of great literature, this year's programme brings live-music, spoken word and physical theatre to the Fringe as dance artists give their sense of the world around them and how they, and we, are all interconnected.

Talking about the programme, Artistic Director, Morag Deyes, MBE, said:

"Dance is a language that everyone is able to understand - the magic of the body tells us stories about life, conveying the subtlest and the most visceral experiences of the wonderful human condition.

This year, we see the tragedies and the comedies of humanity, often in the same show, as seen and felt from across this complex, beautiful planet.
Prepare to be moved, delighted, surprised, shaken and stirred!"

Delve in to uncover the full Dance Base Festival 2017 programme; a diverse line-up, offering something for everyone, in a year that celebrates 70 years of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

This year, Dance Base welcomes work from the Arab Art Focus; a showcase of new theatre and performance from the Arab Region and Diaspora, presented across the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Dance Base will host New Contemporary Arab Dance Performances, presenting a weekend of work from three choreographers from Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, including Dance Base Associate Artist Farah Saleh. Curated by Nedjma Haj Banchelabi, the pieces will look at the challenges artists face to perform.

Continuing the relationship with the Taiwan Season, 2017 marks the fourth year in which pieces from the showcase are hosted at Dance Base. The first of two shows from this year's programme is Kuo-Shin Chuang Pangcah Dance Theatre's 038. Titled after the telephone area code for Haulien on Taiwan's East Coast, home of the indigenous Pangcah people, 038 is a contemporary performance underpinned with traditional spirit that asks the question, 'Where is home?'

From nine performers to two dancers, the second show from Taiwan is Chen Wei Lee x ART B&B's Together Alone. In this beautiful and vulnerable creation, Chen-Wei and Vakulya Zoltan are tasked with never letting go of each other, performing nude, to create an intimate show that explores relationships.

From relationships with each other, to relationships with the land, Guwahati-based dancer and choreographer Shilpika Bordoloi presents Majuli; a solo celebration of the social, cultural and spiritual life of the river island of Majuli. Part of India@UK Year of Culture 2017, this work of evocative physical theatre will be performed with music created by instruments from the island community.

Live-music is on offer for all ages this year, as Caroline Bowditch and Company present Snigel and Friends; a new interactive and sensory show for 0-1-year-olds, and their adults. Part of the Made in Scotland Showcase, children are invited to explore the wonderful world of Snigel the Snail, where stories are brought to life by dancers and songs, led by the inimitable Caroline Bowditch.

In Canada's 150th anniversary, Dance Base welcomes Canadian dance master and choreographer Bill Coleman, as he joins forces with avant-garde composer Gordon Monahan to present DOLLHOUSE. The creation combines tap dancing, performance art, and a unique live-score and is set in an object-laden room, that collapses and breaks at the touch, portraying Coleman as a figure whose world is literally falling in around him.

Travelling from Canada to Korea, personal struggle is also dealt with by Lee K Dance who explore mental health in Mind-Goblin. Performed by LEE Kyung-eun, Mind Goblin unearths the sense of negativity, destruction and deviation created by the goblins in our minds, encouraging self-acceptance by dancing with such feelings, to reflect and touch on our inner beauty.

Companies pay tribute to literature this year; from American Classics to Shakespeare. In the first of two shows inspired by the Bard is John Scott Dance's evocative re-interpretation of Lear. Part of the Culture Ireland Showcase, the show stars dance legend Valda Setterfield as the King. Having worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Woody Allen, and as a soloist for Merce Cunningham, Setterfield gives a moving performance, alongside the gender-reversed cast.

The second in the programme's Shakespearean inspired, gender-bending shows, comes from Company Chordelia. Presented as a co-production with Solar Bear, Lady Macbeth: unsex me here is dance theatre that explores the ambition, power and remorse of Shakespeare's most complex woman. Created and directed by Herald Angel award-winning Kally Lloyd Jones, the show will be played by three male dancers, and produced with British Sign Language as an integral part of the choreography.

James Wilton Dance adds to the literary focus this August with LEVIATHAN; a
re-imagining of Herman Melville's seminal novel, Moby Dick. Featuring a cast of seven, the work follows Ahab - a ship captain hell-bent on capturing the white whale, in a story that explores self-destruction. LEVIATHAN is man versus nature, using the company's trademark of athletic dance, martial arts, capoeira and partner-work.

Following their highly acclaimed debut Plan B for Utopia, Joan Clevillé Dance return to Dance Base with their new work The North. Co-commissioned by Tramway and The Place, the show explores our fascination with the idea of the North: the landscape, the light and the creatures that inhabit it. Blending elements from dance and physical theatre, the show tells a story of a young man's journey in search of meaning, in an unpredictable environment.

Environment is further explored by physical theatre and site-specific performance company Oceanallover who present Sea Hames, in association with Feral. Fusing performance, live-music and costume design, the promenade piece will visit the Dance Base garden over three dates, before appearing at Dalkeith Country Park. It is inspired by Orkney's 'Festival of the Horse and Boys Ploughing Match', exploring the iconography of the horse, the plough and land.

From site-specific performances to big entrances - award-winning artist Oona Doherty presents her sweaty dance theatre Hope Hunt & the Ascension into Lazarus. Having received the Tiger Dublin Fringe Award 2016 for Best Performance, and following being seen at Aerowaves' prestigious Spring Forward 2017 Showcase, her show is also part of the Culture Ireland Showcase this year. A political piece, it explores themes of gender and masculinity, and will attempt to deconstruct the stereotype of the disadvantaged male.

Masculinity is central to Poyo Rojo's energetic performance Un Poyo Rojo. Based in an empty locker room, two men play with movement; wrestling and dancing, using acrobatics and physical comedy, to distort the expectations of manhood. Presented in association with Aurora Nova, this playful work showcases the best of Argentinian physical theatre.

Looking to gender as a focal point, it is interwoven in Julie Cunningham's technical To Be Me. Part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase, the work is inspired by the Greek tale of Tiresias. Changed by the gods from male to female for seven years, the choreography is set to Kate Tempest's hip hop reworking of the myth, from the poetry collection Hold Your Own. Featuring four dancers, including Cunningham herself, it explores gender and identity in a rare combination of dance and spoken word.

The final show in the Culture Ireland Showcase at Dance Base is presented by Triple Fringe First and Olivier Award-winning Fishamble: The New Play Company, who return with the award-winning comedy The Humours of Bandon. Written and performed by Margaret McAuliffe and directed by Stefanie Preissner, this work of physical theatre is a hilarious, coming of age tale about the trials and triumphs of competitive Irish Dancing, looking at how the childhood passion can overwhelm your life.

Humour is seen in Keira Martin's heart-warming Here Comes Trouble; a one woman show that draws on personal stories, and social and cultural influences, from Ireland, Yorkshire and Jamaica to investigate womanhood and identity. Weaving traditional music, authentic song and gutsy dance, Here Comes Trouble is a feisty yet vulnerable performance that addresses and challenges stereotypes and labels.

From traditional song to live jazz, music continues to weave its way through the programme as Old Kent Road make their Fringe debut with Fall Out; a quintessential tap dancing show, set to the sounds of a live jazz performance that portrays the journey of falling in and out of love.

It wouldn't be the festival without a hint of spontaneity and Dance Base's eclectic Heads Up returns, with a curated pick-and-mix of great dance from across the Fringe. A varied programme of performances, the ticket offers a tantalising taste of different styles, in one affordable dance showcase, with companies that include After Freedom, and confirmed artists that include Kirsty Pollock and Charlotte McLean.

From one curated line-up to the next, Dance Base's performing companies PRIME and Lothian Youth Dance Company (funded by the Leverhulme Trust) join Scottish Dance Theatre's Creative Learning to present a multi-generational showcase called Why Stop There? with dancers from 12 - 85 years old. Age is celebrated across the showcase with a new piece by Lothian Youth Dance Company, PRIME's Carry On Dancing and SDT's TIM (This Is Me), choreographed by Steinvor Palsson and Dawn Hartley.

Finally, an insight into the studio craft of eleven of Edinburgh's most accomplished independent dance artists. In-The-Making Collective will be in the studio for 2 hours on the 7, 14, and 21 August, improvising and creating to a live electronic score by composer Bill Thompson. Audiences are invited to enter the studio for as long as they please and find their own vantage points among artists including Nicholas Bone, Matthew Hawkins and Rosalind Masson.

Tickets for Dance Base shows are available through the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website, ahead of the full Fringe brochure launch on Wednesday 7 June, and Dance Base thereafter.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/
http://www.dancebase.co.uk/

To post a comment, you must register and login.