Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Celtic Collective
YDance and National Youth Arts Wales
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre, Youth Theatre
Venue: Assembly @ Dance Base
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
National Youth Dance Companies of both Scotland and Wales present a double bill that celebrates the power of dance. Two distinctly different ensemble performances that includes solo work, intimate duets, as well as group work which astonishes from the first moment until the last.
Review
Their first presentation is a muse on mirrors and reflection and how you are seen, whilst the second is a more contemplative piece which suggests a dystopian future, but you get dressed up for it. Both national companies have done themselves incredibly proud by coming together to celebrate a collaborative process. Instead of competing performances here are two very distinctive performance pieces.
The first more dynamic, fewer on stage and an intensity that manages to collect people together in a dynamism which transcends the footlights.
The second is choreographed in a more contemplative style. We have a solo singer singing The End of the World with a hula hooper centre stage. From there the solos, duets and group work which might not have the dynamism of the first certainly matches their effectiveness.
Young dance is always going to have a range of abilities on stage and that collective nature that’s inclusive. There were a couple of times where there were things that weren’t quite matched or there was somebody slightly behind others, but overall, the distinctive nature of the whole experience was the earnestness and the connection that these dancers had was more than impressive.
The first piece cleverly used mirrors. It emphasised theatrically How they looked and was used to see ourselves as the audience in the mirror. We could see our reaction, which meant we became more inclusively involved. When it became more dynamic you were almost breathless just at the sight of it. It used theatre arts to enhance the theatricality.
For the second piece there were less props and a bare stage, but the two anchoring performances of the singer and the young hula hooper worked. We had a place to go back to constantly to remind us, not just of the sombre nature of what is being contemplated, but also the latent energy that is in front of us. Costumes were very sparkly, very showgirl, and that added a dystopian feeling around the end of the world, but here was also a fight back, a celebration of life.
Having two national dance theatre companies together performing with two different distinctive performance pieces felt less competitive and more collaborative. That might feel like a risk and often the idea of collaborative working can be lost in amongst petty jealousies. But contemporary dance asks of us that we see what is in front of us as metaphor and engage in a physical discourse that transcends pettiness. It looks at bigger issues and leaves us to navigate meaning. I often find myself finding a pathway others reject or struggle to see, but here I took hope no hopelessness from these pieces which was partly due to the abilities: I felt this was polished and the highest level of commitment I had seen for some time.
As an example of current dance work with young people, this was exemplary. It put a spring in my step coming out because I felt that I had seen something that had peaked at the point that you wanted to see it.
