1973-2026 Iona Kewney was a dancing paradox: feral sprite; anarchist angel, punk diva, badass elfin. She often shocked as well as delighted audiences who were used to less. She slipped through genre and discipline like few before her. She was a unique, beautiful performer in an industry that expects you to stay in your lane.Continue reading “Iona”
Category Archives: Dance
Archive Dance Review : GOD/A Beautiful Hell
GOD (Grumpy Old Dancers) / A Beautiful Hell @ Dance Base ★★★★ Review by Lorna Irvine | 08 Aug 2012 ”Oh, hello, boys and girls… would you like to hear a story?” Thus begins the loveably eccentric pairing that is Alan Greig and Andy Howitt, but there ain’t nothing fairytale like about GOD – indeed,Continue reading “Archive Dance Review : GOD/A Beautiful Hell”
Archive Review : Sylvie Guillem- Life In Progress
Exeunt exeunt Reviews • EdinburghPublished 14 August 2015 Sylvie Guillem – Life in Progress Festival Theatre ⋄ 8th – 10th August 2015 A final bow. Lorna Irvine The front cover of the festival programme shows a photograph of a little girl staring out sweetly, squinting towards the camera on an idyllic summer’s day- totally relaxed and in theContinue reading “Archive Review : Sylvie Guillem- Life In Progress”
No Burns Night Here
Robert Burns is supposedly our National Bard, held in great esteem all over Scotland, but I’m having none of it. Bad enough that much of his work is doggerel (although Tam O’ Shanter is decent enough storytelling in its own way) but also, the man was allegedly a prick who raped his pregnant wife JeanContinue reading “No Burns Night Here”
Album Review: James Adrian Brown -Forever Neon Lights
Former Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist James Adrian Brown’s debut album is an eerie but slick series of beats, sitting somewhere between Boards Of Canada and Gold Panda. His choppy electronics are heavy but beautiful, warped yet melodic. These paradoxes make his sound interesting. Contradictions in sonics are always welcome with me. He may notContinue reading “Album Review: James Adrian Brown -Forever Neon Lights”
Thirty Swans A- Dancing
Photo: Hugo Glendenning When Matthew Bourne first premiered his ground-breaking Swan Lake, there were walkouts and little girls crying. Where were the girls in tutus? Why was there a gay storyline? Where were Odile and Odette? Pearls were clutched. It’s thirty years later, and happily Bourne’s iconoclastic and singular vision has not only endured, butContinue reading “Thirty Swans A- Dancing”
TV Review: Girlbands Forever
Following on from last year’s Boybands Forever documentary, produced by Louis Theroux and Nancy Strang, comes the sister companion Girlbands Forever. And it’s equally as fascinating, yet pretty flawed. Suga(babes) and Spice (Girls) is all very nice, but of course, as with the previous three part series, the reality was anything but. As before, ex-bandContinue reading “TV Review: Girlbands Forever”
Album Review: Haai- Humanise
The second album from London based electronic artist Teneil Throssell, aka HAAi, is absolutely sublime. Continuing with the gorgeous experimentation from debut Baby I’m Ascending, Humanise features friends like Jon Hopkins, Obi Franky, ILA and TRANS VOICES on the majestic ‘Satellite’. Elsewhere, we find Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor on ‘New Euphoria’ and Kam-Bu on ‘Shapeshift’.Continue reading “Album Review: Haai- Humanise”
Album Review: Rival Consoles- Landscape From Memory
What a beauty. The gorgeous, endlessly inventive new album, from Rival Consoles, aka Ryan Lee West, invokes a kind of synaesthesia: you can almost hear colours. It’s textured, layer upon layer, like a kind of complex tromp l’oeil painting in sound. Tracks like ‘Catherine’, ‘Known Shapes’ and the stunning, shimmering ‘Soft Gradient Beckons’ appear likeContinue reading “Album Review: Rival Consoles- Landscape From Memory”
Freelancer’s Blues
It isn’t easy being a freelance arts writer. While I’m fully aware there are worse jobs to have (I previously worked in a call centre, a hotel and in retail, uggghhh) there are a few issues with this bizarre occupation. Firstly, some publications insist that they will pay you, only to renege at the lastContinue reading “Freelancer’s Blues”
Hit The North 