THAT well-worn enticement of “something for everyone” is holding pleasingly true for the variety of dance that’s coming our way in 2017. From classic ballet pointe-work to head-spinning hip hop, from the seductive intricacies of Argentinian tango to aerial choreography with a dramatic twist, there’s much to delight and surprise audiences across Scotland.
So what’s hot? Danza Contemporanea De Cuba, for sure. March winds blow this sassy, spirited troupe back to the UK with the company’s hallmark mix of Afro Caribbean rhythms, jazzy American modernism and European balletic accents. Their enthusiasm for filling the stage with such diverse (and superbly delivered) styles vividly reflects the melting pot of cultures that is the very essence of Cuba – they’re at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (March 10) and then at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre (March 14 & 15).
Choreographer Kenneth Tindall, meanwhile, has been creating a new, full length work for Northern Ballet. His subject? None other than that arch-seducer, Casanova. “I certainly won’t be telling Casanova’s story from A-Z as it is just too vast, “ says Tindall, adding that “his life and adventures lend themselves to the stage so well and, in my opinion, especially ballet. He lived a life of excess and theatrical flair!” Audiences can revel in Tindall’s spectacularly decadent dance when it comes to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre just days after its premiere in Leeds (March 23 - 25).
April is promising to be the coolest month, with the arrival of Out of This World – an edge-of-the-seat cross between an intense psychological thriller and heart-rending medical drama, created by Mark Murphy whose skill and imagination lay behind the closing ceremony of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games 2014. Melding together film, animation, text and aerial choreography, the piece takes us into the free-falling mind of a woman in a medically-induced coma - will she stay in that limbo, or come back to life? Stirling’s Macrobert Arts Centre is one of the commissioning bodies behind Murphy’s new production for his VTOL company, so it’s only fitting that the venue hosts the show’s premiere ( April 21 & 22). The tour includes other Scottish dates: Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (May 16 & 17), Tramway, Glasgow (May 19 & 20), Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre (May 23 &24).
You could say that there’s also a Scottish connection with Matthew Bourne’s latest hot ticket hit, The Red Shoes. It’s an adaptation of the classic Powell and Pressburger film about a young girl, Vicky Page, who dreams of being the greatest dancer in the world. In the 1948 film, that ballerina was our own exquisite Moira Shearer. Bourne, however, feels that Page has layers to her character that he’s been able to explore on-stage. “She’s actually quite calculating and forthright – much tougher than the Natalie Portman character in Black Swan. I’ve tried to show that side of her.” You can find out how that plays when The Red Shoes has its only Scottish dates at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre (May 9-13). The same theatre is also the only Scottish venue to host Breakin’ Convention, the world’s biggest festival of hip-hop dance theatre (May 5 & 6), and Milonga, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s fabulous, evocative foray into the sensuous, alluring cut and thrust of Argentine tango (June 13 &14).
On the home front, once Scottish Ballet has finished its current tour of Hansel and Gretel, it intends to Go Digital with a season of pioneering collaborations that will explore new ways of presenting dance within a digital format. Details of the Spring initiative, called Under the Kin, are still under wraps, as are details of Dance International Glasgow (DIG) at Tramway. However we can already whisper that Scottish Ballet are in DIG with new work by Uri Ivgi and Johan Greben (April 21 & 22) and that Scottish Dance Theatre will be bringing their large-scale piece, Velvet Petal – in part an hommage to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe – to DIG in May.
And for those of you feeling the lack of Strictly pleasures on your screen, there are various touring shows featuring some of the programmes professional dancers en route to Scotland in the coming months. Brendan Cole’s All Night Long is at Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre (Jan 28), Glasgow’s Theatre Royal (Jan 29), Perth Concert Hall (Feb 20) and Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre (Feb 21). Come May, Aljaz Skorjanec and Janette Manrara will be saluting Fred Astaire – details of their Scottish dates are on www.rememberingfred.co.uk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here