Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Futuristic Folktales
Charlotte Mclean and Collaborators
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre
Venue: Dance Base
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
We all come from a womb; “a place where offspring are conceived and in which they gestate before birth; …a place where something is generated.” Discuss, through the medium of contemporary dance.
Seen at a relaxed performance, at Dance Base in Association with Assembly, the dancers are continuously fascinating to watch.
Review
Two thirds of the way through this new work by Charlotte Mclean, dancer Orrow Bell is finding ways to give birth to themself. Shaping limbs into openings for body parts to squeeze through, twisting into unholy positions until they finally hoop arms over legs and hurrah are born again. It’s a stand out sequence in an hour long show that explores the meaning and resonance of the word Womb, made by Charlotte and a number of collaborators, including Orrow and their co-performer Seke Chimutengwende.
Elsewhere, we perhaps inevitably have foetus-like forms emerging to Malin Lewis’s electronic/bagpipe mash-up score. Highland dance features in the choreography too; Orrow’s arms uplifted, fingers poised, looking in shadow like a stag on a tin of Scottish shortbread.
The dancers are continuously fascinating. Seke (who has worked with Forced Entertainment, Lost Dog and DV8) uses his powerful voice and dramatic presence with delicacy and grace. Shaven-headed Orrow is a blade-sharp, articulate dancer, their face wonderfully expressive.
While there are moments of wonder and surprise, the piece feels too tethered to its theme and displays its process, perhaps the result of having so many contributing voices rather than one clear vision. With folk stories and robots, word associations and voice overs, it’s a busy stage before the hush and tight embrace of the finale.
Charlotte opened the show telling the audience that, to her, dance is political and that while the world is burning we should dance to find joy. As someone who does just that, and who can well up at a flick of an ankle or the curve of an arm through space, the inventive dance language of the performers is irresistibly watchable.
Charlotte also said she wants “to conjure all the stories that have ever been and imagine those that are yet to come.” It’s an ambitious and heartfelt ambition which the choreography in part conveys, but overall is a bit of a puzzle. But then, aren’t we all?
