Shakti © Mino La Franca recent Shakti reviews Burklyn Youth Ballet reviews Pigeon Theatre reviews Compagnie Francois Verret reviews Pasodos Dance Co reviews Joel Hanna & Mike Schulster reviews more Trog reviews

Shakti
Shakti is so much a part of the fringe and an absolute must to see. This is her tenth year in Edinburgh and she is presenting a whole swag of her back catalog, so it is your chance to catch up on all of those shows that you missed in previous years. I, naturally, caught up with her as much as possible.

Salome
There was only four performances of this work, and the first night I went, it was sold out, such is the growing popularity of Shakti. I was very lucky in that I was squeezed in, and I had to sit on the floor, right at the front; I hope that our readers appreciate the hardship I had to endure!

Danced to a live dulcimer score, performed by Geoff Smith the composer, this starts off as an almost literal interpretation of the fabled dance of the seven veils, with Shakti entering clad in a black wrap with a very long red train behind. Underneath one can glimpse the beaded bikini of the stereotypical harem dancer, although one can see from the line, that this is a typical Shakti costume, i.e. there isn't a lot to it.

The dance is vintage Shakti, full of her special blend of Kathak, ballet, contemporary dance, yoga poses and some moves of her own. There is some wonderful hand movements in this too, sometimes very spiky and aggressive, other times flowing and graceful. There are a couple of instances of a particular favourite of mine, in which the hands start in 5th and cascade down to demi-2nd, with complex wrist rolls and some subtle shoulder movements. The effect is that of a waterfall and is very beautiful to see.

She has amazing eyes and uses them to good effect in this work, sometimes being alluring, sometimes coy and very predatory towards the end of the work. The movements that comprise the piece start off very gracefully and become very predatory as the dance reaches a climax. She dances with a mask, which later becomes a hand prop and is used to good effect. She also dances in and out of the light which is very seductive.
 

Shakti in Salome
© Mino La Franca

The score is very dynamic and varied. Some sections sounds very olde English, some middle Eastern and some very avant-garde. There is some vocals here and there too, which provide a nice contrast. The words are not important but the rhythm and sound reflect the seduction.

As usual, Shakti describes something of the work at the end. Most of her works are about freedom and energy, and this one is no different. She says that parts are improvised and that this work represents a journey. "If you enjoyed it today, you may not enjoy it tomorrow." I suspected that I would.

The audience was not quite as large for my second dose of Salome, but it was still almost full. There were some minor differences between the two performances, although generally much of it was the same. There was a new prop, a mirror, which she used to reflect hand gestures onto the walls and ceiling. She was perhaps less animalistic this time.

This is a very strong work, and I rate this as one of Shakti's best. The live score works very well and this would be a good piece to see if you haven't experienced Shakti before, as some of her pieces are very challenging.

The Pillow Book
Some parts of this piece are very good, such as the opening movement, which is danced to a score that sounds as if it was recorded by a cathedral choir; the words sound Latin. The piece opens with Yuko and Kumiko, her usual two accompanying dancers in white kimonos performing a very familiar looking sequence of Japanese moves and elegant walks. Shakti herself is kneeling at the back of the stage, covered in a cloth. The subtly of these moves are lost on me, but this type of dancing looks graceful and it has a calming effect. Shakti then stands and is dressed in a richly embroidered kimono. There is a section here in which an assistant combs her hair. I interpret this as preparing for the ensuing seduction and courtship.

The second movement features Shakti swirling around in red flowing robes. This continues for some minutes. She is bathed in red light. I am not convinced the movements fit the music, but as a visual effect it is pretty good. She seems almost to float. The next parts of this piece are difficult to watch. One is confronted with Shakti in all her naked glory as body paint is applied by artist Mieko Nishimura. There are some very strong body waves during this section.

Once the painting is completed, the dance is stunning. The score is a counter-tenor (singing possibly in French) to solo piano; the overall effect reminded me of some early music recordings. Simple and lush at the same time, with the vocals soaring over the piano. Shakti dances to seduce her lover (the audience). She knows that the face is a very important part of dance. She can be seductive, innocent, predatory, sexy, dominate, animalistic, submissive and free-spirited, all in the time span it took to read this sentence. She can devastate with a single look.

The final movement it a series of wild gyrations to a techno/trance beat. Lots of head and hair combining with some very subtle hand movements. I believe that Sei Shonagon's works, on which this piece is based, are very erotic. This is a surprisingly unerotic work. It does however leave you in no doubt that Shonagon was a woman of forceful personality, strong willed and vibrant. This work has certainly grown on me since my last viewing.

Dances of India
A very mixed bag. This opens with a Shakti solo performing a very dynamic and swirling dance from southern India. The costume is very brightly coloured and, as is typical of Indian dance, adds a very exciting dimension to the movements. This is a very fast paced opening, and although it is only a dance in the style, it looks authentic. She gives you some information about each dance that follows.

Yuko and Kumiko perform a duet, which is a dance of offering. Next Shakti joins them for a thanks to Buddha on his Birthday. She reminds us that his birthday is in April, so we are a bit late, but what the heck! These two dances are very graceful and dream like. The flowers in the hair work very well, and the three ladies seem to float across the floor, while the hands display intricate shapes. These are very difficult to replicate.

Five young dancers perform some short temple dances, firstly as a solo, then as a duo and a trio and finally another duo. I found this section a bit repetitive, although the dancers are clearly very skilled. Again the costumes are very bright and look good.

Shakti ends the show with some Kathak dance. This is very exciting to watch, and see looks almost possessed in the final quivering section. This dance swirls, and slaps, the feet banging the floor with power that cracks like a whip. The bells tickle and one is immediately swept away. I have seen quite a lot of Kathak dance in my time, and I am always excited when I see it. Seeing Shakti perform merely added to it. Dynamic as always, this was so good I just had to go again! I don't know how pure this Kathak is, but what you see is a very hard working and very entertaining performer. Shakti has power, grace and sexiness all at once.

Swan Lake
This is a real favourite of mine. Not only do you get Shakti, you also get Trog's favourite ballet. Two for the price of one. I have seen this live only once before and the version I have on video is a recording of the performance I was at, so I did wonder if this would really be that good.

I am happy to confirm that it is, although this is a different version. The stage is dark, with three crinkled silver sheets hanging at the back of the stage. With a lot of imagination, these look like Japanese blinds. An obvious prop but they do look interesting. Enter Shakti to the strains of the classic score, barefoot, dressed in a black waistcoat, a long black skirt and sunglasses. The opening salvo is fast; it is hard to keep up with all the movements.

The waltz from the third scene follows, to which Shakti floats and glides lightly, accenting occasionally with the powerful foot slaps. Yuko and Kumiko appear next for a quick duet; this is a feature new to me.

The music drifts on to a piece somewhere near the start of Act 2 of the score. Shakti re-enters clad in a black fur coat with white strapless bikini underneath. Her arms contain elements of the classic choreography for the swans, but they do not follow it. The rest of her movements are reminiscent of the supermodel on the runway. The fur is discarded during a strutting walk.
 

Shakti in Swan Lake
© Shakti

'Dance of The Swans' sees her with the coat as a cape (mysterious and alluring). She performs a sequence of seductive rises here. Later she dons a short white coat for the "hoppy" bit of the music. I gather she is being both the black and the white swan at this point. 'Dance of The Cygnets. was a bit weak really, she looked more cat-like than bird-like. This most famous part of the score should possibly be omitted, but then it wouldn't be Swan Lake would it?

After donning a lace gown, we're off to the ball. Last time I saw this work, two partners were imaginary and off stage. Such was the expressiveness of her mime, that I was able to determine there are two suitors. For the Edinburgh performance, Kumiko and Yuko are the princes, with white Auguste masks.

The piece reaches a climax in front of the silver sheet, she whips it away (to the music used for the duel with Rothbart). Behind is a blazing altar, which she mounts, and adopts a Shakti variant of the classic Swan Lake pose. The accompanying whines, each louder than previous, are extremely suggestive. We all know ballet is about sex; Shakti merely confirms this.

There is a short coda performed to a techno score. This is the usual animalistic gyrations. It is an extreme contrast to what we've just seen.

The whole ballet, is condensed to a bite sized chunk. Purists would be appalled, just as they were with AMP's production, perhaps even more so. As Shakti points out swans are wild animals; they don't flit about pristinely. They swim in the muddy water, they are a dirty grey and they are down right aggressive during the mating season. Shakti says the white swan represents nature and the black swan the world we inhabit; mix them and you come out a shining silver. "Fly to the sun and fulfil your dreams" she says.

The Woman Who Dances With Wolves
This is my least favourite of the Shakti works that I saw. It starts off very strongly, which Shakti performing her usual sequence of graceful swirls and beautiful hand gestures, clad in a black bikini with coloured wrap over. This wrap floats and she uses it well.

The second movement is very slow. It starts with Yuko and Kumiko dragging long trains attached to the hair, across the stage. Shakti joins them. The score is a Germanic text, which does little for the movements.

The final three movements are quite quick and aggressive and are performed to a very atonal score, which features a lot of high pitched, ear piercing squeals. There is also a bit which sounds like The Glitter Band. There are some very interesting movements in this and the use of a light and a mirror, as an integral part of the dance is very interesting. With a different score, this would be a much better work.

Again this represents freedom, although this time it is not obvious. I thought it was about the predatory nature of things.

Shakti is presenting two further works, which I didn't get to see during my three days in Edinburgh. These are Eros Of Love And Destruction and The Woman In The Dunes. Previous experience tells me the latter work is worth seeing.

During my days at the festival I did actually manage to see performances other than by the goddess!

The Little Mermaid - Burklyn Youth Ballet
To music by Arthur Sullivan, the company present a typical school show, full of enthusiasm but quite rough around the edges. They are all teenagers, and while the no doubt starry eyed, doting parents would see this as being a wonderful show, I felt it was only slightly better than average school show. The choreography is quite simple, a typical sequence being courus, tendu, pirouette, pas de bourreé. Another being a series of sissonne, assemblé. All this was well within the capabilities of the dancers.

Nothing really gave the impression that we were underwater. The very flat lighting design probably didn't help. Still we weren't here to see the Kirov. There were plenty of smiles from the cast, who all looked liked they were enjoying themselves, and they were sharing their pleasure with the audience. Sometimes student shows are full of pained expressions, as the dancers concentrate too much in getting the choreography right. None of that was evident here.

Some of the dance technique was actually quite good. It's not every day that you see a six turn pirouette. I also liked the cardboard cut-out row boat - all very rough and ready (and charming).

This small ballet has all the elements of a typical classical work, with a corps, the villain and his minions, the lost and regained love of the heroine, the heroine's rival and a final grande pdd. Very entertaining. I have seen the company before, although with I suspect different dancers, so I knew what to expect and I was not displeased.

A natural for the children, I spotted a couple of Arial dolls in the audience.

Candide - Par Exemplum Productions
Previously I have only seen extracts from this Bernstein musical, but Voltaire's book has long been a favourite of mine, so I was naturally drawn to this. The cast are (I believe) all from York University and this tripped along at quite a pace and presented the humour well. The live orchestra were an added bonus, but strangely they remained hidden throughout. They didn't even appear for a bow, being content with a final musical flourish.

The costumes were very good, although they were looking a little tatty; this was the end of a two week run. Generally the singing was very good, but some of the performers need to work on their presence, as the ensemble looked unbalanced. The story is well presented and there are some nice little touches. There are plenty of laughs and the cast responded well to the audience.

This is staged in the round in a small venue and I think this worked very well. Had this been a large scale production, a lot would be lost. A very good afternoon, and as an added bonus, we saw some Bernstein that wasn't West Side Story.

The Housekeeper - Pigeon Theatre
This is a piece of physical theatre nonsense performed in a kitchen. It attempts to combine life and death, with the spotless cleaning of the kitchen for the subsequent preparation and consumption of a meal. We see slaughter and execution. You might well find yourself splattered with food (capes are provided). There is a lot of obvious slapstick in this and some direct lifts from Monty Python and The Goons.

This is very in your face, as the audience are part of the action; the performers, mop, wipe, whisk, chop and run around you. Not boring, it is far to energetic for that, but I came away with a feeling of so what. I enjoyed the glass of wine and the slice of warm, fresh out of the oven cake but the shows tag line "Shake'n'Vac meets Samuel Beckett" is far too grandiose.

Brilliant! The Blinding Light Of Nikola Tesla
Electric Company Theatre
The first word of the title describes this work very accurately. A cast of four tell story of Tesla's years in America, with words, song, dance and video. The play is judgemental of the US government and asks compelling questions about scientific advancement in the face of capitalism. The rise and fall of this almost forgotten physicist is told with tenderness and humour. Tesla is shown as a man driven in his quest to change the world for the better. Science can bring world peace and order; politicians can only bring war and chaos.

There are some really wonderful images. We all probably know more about Tesla than you realise and to see the skillful direction brings to life many familiar sights. We have all seen that old, jerky, silent newsreel footage of Tesla. It gets recreated here. How often have we seen spinning newspapers? An oft used filmic device brought to life. Wardenclyffe, that large orb tipped tower on Long Island, the purpose of which was never understood, is shown in all it's glory, right before your eyes. There are moments of pure gothic horror, which work very well and are entirely appropriate. Tesla did indeed sell his soul, not to Mephistopheles, but to the goddess electricity.

Who said physics was boring? An absolute must see!!

Steve Rawlings Is Insured - Steve Rawlings & Dave Brown
This is a kids show really. Steve Rawlings is a very well known and an extremely funny juggler. Trog can juggle (a bit). Most juggling shows are incredibly boring to watch. Five balls is all very clever but all it shows is someone with no life; you have to put in a lot of hours of practice to do five. Steve Rawlings can (probably) do five, but it is more about the jokes than the juggling.

All the "classic" juggling jokes are there plus a few new ones. I doubt anyone else could pull together furniture juggling, a bottle xylophone, a drum kit and Je t'aime together in one show. If you want something to ease the mind after enduring say The Seagull, borrow a kid and see Uncle Steve. You've seen someone pull out the tablecloth and leave the crockery in place. Have you ever seen it put back? No dance in this though...

Chanter-Musil - Compagnie François Verret
This was the only show in the main Festival that I saw. I bought one of the £5 turn-up tickets, and on the whole, I wish I'd have spent my £5 elsewhere. It is a pile of pretentious rubbish, un-entertaining (except perhaps for the performers). The set is the only interesting thing in the show. This consists of a large multilevel scaffold, with a large space inside. Ropes can be flown in and out as required. At the back, sits a large video screen. To the right a drum kit, and to the left another smaller video screen and some computer equipment.

Someone draws onto the computer equipment, and the live drawings are projected onto the screen. The drawing surface is miked, so the sounds of the charcoal and razorblade eraser, provide part of the accompaniment. There is also some spoken text, which is translated on surtitles. Apparently there is a store to this, but without a program, you couldn't tell.

Although the acrobatic skill of two of the performers is without question, The over image is dull. It is very poorly lit and there is only so long one can sit and watch performers throwing themselves about on stage, especially to the non-musical "score". I've heard more tuneful roadworks. I could quickly tell that this was going to be complete rubbish and repetitive. When I saw the scaffold, I though oh-oh. Within 5 minutes we'd pretty well seen the whole show, and there was still 55 to go!

The Tango Spell - Pasodos Dance Company
Combine a ballet couple, a tango couple, a contemporary soloist, an actor and an extra and you get a passionate tale of fatal attraction, with very tragic consequences. The dancing is of a very high standard. The ballet couple very classical but not pure. We've all seen the stereo typical tango danced to 'Hernando's Hideaway, with the rose in the teeth, cheek to cheek, arms maniacally pointing the way. This production would be worth seeing just for the joke built around this. There is a whole swag of other fine dancing too.

There is passion aplenty in this. If you like the tango, you would not be disappointed, as there is a lot of it. If you like the ballet, well there is a lot of that too! There is plenty of elevation, although I think they were having to pull back a bit. The ballerina did kick a light once in during one of the lifts. The stage is quite small and ideally, this would be in a larger venue. Judging by audience sizes, they've miscalculated on the popularity of this work.

The svengali figure is very menacing, clearly the actor is relishing the part. All of the conflict and deceit is portrayed with pure mime and it is very effective. The choreography is pretty well spot on. Very Balanchine this.

The other must see in the festival.

Revolution: Sex And Dance And Rock'N'Roll
Joel Hanna and Mike Schulster (Show'n'Off Productions)
Performed to a non-descript collection of tunes, played by your average garage band, this very formulaic work; you are given a lighter to wave around as you enter. The cast presented an audience pleasing collection of tap. There were touches of Irish, flamenco and tap. The audience whooped and hollered and obviously enjoyed themselves, which is what seeing a show is all about.

Personally I like my music more tuneful, most of this is just a series of power chords. The choreography is nothing new; whole sections are modelled on Riverdance. We see 'Trading Taps', 'Firedance' and 'Reel Around The Sun'. The only (possibly) original section is the tap dance done on sheets of steel, during which the sparks literally fly. What a minute! Didn't Tap Dogs do that?

There was lots of energy in this catchily titled show. This is rock'n'roll presented by clean living American kids. A show for the MTV generation. Rock'N'Roll is filthy, dirty and depraved. We are the people our parents warned us about. This show is sanitised beyond belief.

Dino Birds - The Royal Museum
OK so the link to dance is very tenuous, but there is one, honest gov! This is a collection of feathered fossils from China. We know of Archaeopteryx, but this shows some of his cousins such as Caudipteryx and Consuciusornis. This is much more than just a dry collection of dusty fossils with carefully typed labels. They are very well displayed and presented and there is a lot of interesting information. Not too much, there is no information overload. There are some activities for the younger viewer too. As an added bonus, you can actually get into this exhibition. The Monet exhibition has been impossible to get into, unless one is prepared to queue for an hour or more.

The dance connection? Well one fossil is labelled as a dancing dinosaur.