Edinburgh Fringe 2026
40/40
Two Destination Language
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre
Venue: Assembly @ Dance Base
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This tells the story of a little girl dancing at her parents’ parties over a series of sections to the point of Katharina Radeva’s 40 years as a woman, migrant and artist. She celebrates who she is, was and will be through her own voiceover, after a gentle introduction, through her first encounter with dance, until she was told that she could continue to be part of a community dance programme but that she was too fat to be part of the competitions. She then went to college to study set and costume design and became a performance artist. In 1999 she moved to the United Kingdom from Bulgaria and found herself not just a performance artist and a set and costume designer but now quite rightly, a dancer.
Review
Kat begins by suggesting that she hopes that we will be entertained and she will not let us down. There was at no point when I felt let down.
She is joyful presence on feet and in a space. She touches all around her with that joy. There are other dance companies available of course however, Kat has the ability to touch places that other vibrant dance companies cannot touch.
The voiceover, which is Kat herself, is guides us through the performance, but it also adds a nice dimension to the work. Sections are danced to modern song, but also a usually male-led traditional dance from the Balkans. This has vibrancy throughout the choreography. The range of different moves used and the static moments of contemplation, not many, to the rapid and energetic movement, much more, to the use of the entire floor as a platform, this exhausted you in watching it.
There was a point that Kat was lip syncing and putting new additions to the mat from the tape that she had in her hand. I wondered why then saw visions appearing on that mat that connected to the story that she was telling and clearly to previous performances. Initially I thought it was merely snakes and ladders but once you saw the shapes of the female form and the cubes and the way in which she had laid out the floor as she talked and we listened it made a very different impression – history and the future in her creative hands. It was a beautiful moment of irresistible life-affirming joy.
Technically the use of the voiceover enhanced it. The music was well chosen, and this is her story to tell, and you felt part of the experience. 40/40 felt inclusive and unique at the same time.
I still am able to remember when I was 40 This midpoint, this soul-searching time that we have, as Kat talks personally about the changes that she made in her life when she was 30 and now she wants to continue with that life-affirming process in her 40s, I could feel myself reminding the core and essence of who I am, that this is something that’s available to all of us.
40/40 stands as a testimony, not to youth, not to age, but to just getting up and dancing… turn the volume up will you…
