Dance Preview: Beautiful Chaos 2.0

Pirita Tuisku and Thabo Mokolobate ‘s collaboration Beautiful Chaos 2.0 explores identity , friendship, culture and the ties that bind in this new collaboration at Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh. Using contemporary dance, film and spoken word, the two explore belonging at a time when it’s never felt more necessary to celebrate humanity and that whichContinue reading “Dance Preview: Beautiful Chaos 2.0”

Album Review: Alison Goldfrapp- The Love Invention

Alison Goldfrapp as disco diva? The new Kylie, maybe? She’s always had that side to her, the head-rush of the dancefloor, glitter ball, spike heels and the 5 am walk of shame. But on her first solo studio album without Goldfrapp bandmate Will Gregory, she fully indulges her inner Donna Summer. Co- created with RichardContinue reading “Album Review: Alison Goldfrapp- The Love Invention”

Dance Preview: Too Close To The Sun

Photos by Jassy Earl You can always rely on Barrowland Ballet to create work for wee ones and families alike that is fun, playfully imaginative and yet highly multilayered. So it is with their new piece, Too Close To The Sun. Interrogating complex issues around climate change and collective anxiety, through the prism of IcarusContinue reading “Dance Preview: Too Close To The Sun”

Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Dragnet (1979)

The Fall were starting to implode. Martin and Karl were out, replaced by the Scanlon brothers, Craig and Steve, pals of Marc Riley. It’s this line-up that’s the secret to their brilliant, often overlooked second album, Dragnet. Dragnet is excellent, a brooding, murky record, albeit with MES’ typically esoteric lyricism. He had already proved whatContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Dragnet (1979)”

Lost In Music: AR Kane: i

I have a particular interest in bands who occupy liminal spaces, and do their own unique thing, apart from hype machines and trends. A R Kane are one such band. They were dream pop before it attained that definition, proto – shoegazing, or avant-pop way ahead of the curve. I adore their second album, ‘i’.Continue reading “Lost In Music: AR Kane: i”

Edinburgh Festival Preview: Sense Of Centre

Having seen Jack Webb perform many times over the years, I can confirm that he’s definitely one of Scotland’s finest contemporary dancers. Webb, who is based in Edinburgh, creates work that is knotty, elegant and angular, often interrogating what Bjork once sang about, the complexities of “emotional landscapes “. His new work for the EdinburghContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview: Sense Of Centre”

Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple

This beautiful short film follows Butoh performer Emiko Agatsuma as she crawls like a little sprite of the afterlife clad in a white bodystocking and white wig, through bustling streets, eventually entangling in a billowing pile of plastic. At once a dance and ritual, Agatsuma is a capricious figure, with human and animalistic characteristics. SheContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple”

Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)

Sarah Hopfinger’s Pain and I is an incredible piece, accessible to all, as it’s both a live dance performance and online auditory piece. Hopfinger’s audio piece, featuring gorgeous string arrangements from Alicia Jane Turner, is at once personal tone poem and mantra. Charting her long struggle with neurological pain and back pain, Hopfinger’s words areContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)”

Edinburgh Festival Preview – Taiwan Season at Dance Base

Dance Base has always had an international remit, and the Festival for 2022 is no exception. The Taiwan Season features world class performance and incredible visuals. Here are three highlights to catch this year. Fusing classical ballet with martial arts and modern influences, Po-Ching Tsai’s Floating Flowers takes Buddhist ceremony and ritual as its centralContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview – Taiwan Season at Dance Base”

Edinburgh Festival Preview: Shrimp Dance

Paul Michael Henry makes the kind of work that requires audiences to lean in. It’s not safe, bland or reassuring; rather, it’s powerful, intensely rendered and beautiful, the kind of work that resonates and stains your vital organs. His performance for the Edinburgh Festival, Shrimp Dance, is no less a disquieting piece. At once aContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview: Shrimp Dance”