AS SOON as the Edinburgh Fringe blasts into action for another year, Dance Base morphs into Tardis-mode with a busy programme of national and international performances worthy of a venue twice its size. This year, it has gone even further than before in terms of the variety, geographic outreach and number of events that will occupy the Grassmarket building during August. 
“We actually have a full-length ballet on offer,” says Morag Deyes. There’s a slight pause before Dance Base’s irrepressible artistic director belies the throwaway calm of that remark with her gleeful follow-on. It’s a jaw-dropping bit of info.

“I think this might be the first ever full-length ballet by a professional dance company at the Fringe,” she purrs.  “Certainly there hasn’t been one for a very long time. This is our 17th Dance Base season, and I’m not aware of any. So yes, we’re absolutely thrilled to be pushing boundaries on the Fringe programme, and bringing in Ballet Ireland’s production of Giselle. Love, betrayal, death, redemption... all in one ballet. I love it! It’s such an intense story and it’s all going to be performed at close quarters in our Studio, which will be just amazing for our audiences.”
Choreographed by former Royal Ballet dancer Ludovic Ondiviela, this new version of the 19th century Romantic ballet mixes elements of tradition with the kind of innovative updates that, according to one reviewer, makes this Giselle “accessible for ‘The Walking Dead’ generation” without losing connections with the original concept.

There’s another instance of the brave new work that’s being made in Ireland with Liz Roche’s WRoNGHEADED, and Deyes is seriously pleased to have such a cogently provocative work in her Dance Base lists. Roche’s piece - which was made in the run-up to the recent referendum on abortion - merges film, voice and movement to confront the ongoing issues surrounding women’s rights and freedom of choice in Ireland today.

“It’s a reminder of how dance can be a very immediate way of confronting prejudices and social inequality,” says Deyes. And though - as ever - she didn’t set out to programme work that conveniently jigsawed together into over-arching themes, she wasn’t necessarily surprised when her choices clustered around various shared concerns, with gender and identity very much to the fore in many of them.

“It’s what’s out there,” is her succinct assessment of current creative impulses. She should know: there are 24 shows, garnered from 11 countries, on her Dance Base programme. Alongside a tranche of Scottish performances, there are companies and artists from Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, Switzerland and Hong Kong - some of them new to the Fringe, others making a welcome return. 
“We’re welcoming back Tjimur Dance Theatre from Taiwan,” she says, before laughingly admitting she’d been smitten by their production, Varhung, without realising she’d programmed the company before. “Programmers like myself get invited to a showcase where anonymity prevails! You watch each performance, opt for it purely on its merits - and then hope you’re not going to lose out to another programmer. It was only after I’d ticked my top boxes that I discovered I’d gone for Tjimur - not because of past contacts but simply because the work felt so honest and sincere.” 
In fact, she reckons that Taiwanese companies who come to the Fringe really take time to see what else is happening there. “I think that openness and curiosity feeds into their own creative process. I don’t mean imitation - I’d say it shows in a willingness to take risks, to be very open about their culture, their traditions and values, and about themselves. It’s there in Varhung and in our other Taiwanese show as well, Bon 4 Bon - four guys who are actually brothers, so what they’re bringing on-stage is rooted in a shared history. It's not remotely sentimental, it's just really lovely.”
She proceeds to reel off more of what she brought back from her travels. A trip Down Under, however, turned up unexpected Scottish connections. “The Spinners - which is a dance theatre piece full of Greek myth, wonderful weirdness and a brilliantly unnerving use of knitting needles   - is actually a collaboration between Australian choreographer Lina Limosani and our own Al Seed. And while I was in Oz for that, I managed to see Sunshine Boy, a solo about the late, flamboyantly outrageous Leigh Bowery... and who do you think is in the full-on lippy and platforms? Our own Andy Howitt, formerly director of YDance and City Moves and now based in Australia. Definitely one that I wanted to share - it’s compelling to watch whether or not you already know anything about Leigh or Andy.”
In fact Sunshine Boy ties in with the themes of identity, gender, cultural influences and the nature of belonging that weave through other performances on the programme - Shane Shambhu’s Confessions of a Cockney Temple Dancer or Pink Mama Theatre’s Jungle, for instance. And, given that this is the Year of Young People, there’s a showcase called Starting Now that brings together four very different youth companies from across Scotland.

All of the above is hardly the half of what will be on show at Dance Base during the Fringe. The whole programme is, meanwhile, dedicated to the memory of Anna Krzystek who died so tragically last November. Deyes is profoundly keen to commemorate and celebrate her as an inspiration. “Anna was completely uncompromising in her own work as a dancer/choreographer, interested and supportive of other artists, and she is much missed on the national and international scene. I would love to think that she would have been intrigued, stimulated, entertained by our 2018 programme. We’ve long been known as ‘the home of dance’ - the Welcome mat rolls out on August 3rd!”
Full programme details - https://www.dancebase.co.uk/festival-2018