Edinburgh Fringe 2025
GENDAI
GENDAI/UMIBOZE/AKIRA – n o s productor co ltd
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre, Performance Art, Sci-fi
Venue: WU Asia Pacific
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
In GENDAI, three dancers merge robotic precision with liquid fluidity inside a shifting world of lasers and sound. The result is part nightclub, part science fiction, part living sculpture. At just 15 minutes, it’s a concentrated burst of spectacle that feels thrillingly of the moment.
Review
GENDAI at WU Asia Pacific is a mesmerizing 15-minute explosion of light, sound, and movement. I’ve now seen it three times, and each time I find myself wondering how, in the world, they do it? With lasers slicing through smoke, dancers snapping into robotic isolations before melting into liquid flow, the room is transformed into a living, breathing spectacle of light and sound.
Three performers dressed in white command the stage, their movements precise to the millisecond. The dance vocabulary draws heavily from popping and locking, a style that emphasizes sharp precision alongside smooth transitions. In GENDAI, these contrasts are amplified by the lasers: a hand jerks outward and it looks as if the dancer is gripping a beam of light; a ripple through the torso and suddenly the body seems to liquify inside a matrix of green and blue. The smoke machines thicken the air, so at times the performers appear to be inside a lava lamp, swimming in light. At other moments, the effect is pure sci-fi: the stage dissolves into something out of The Matrix. As its name GENDAI suggests, this is a modern, groundbreaking performance.
Precision is everything in this work. Even the smallest lapse could break the illusion of dancers physically manipulating beams of light. After the show, the performers told me they are acutely aware of every near-miss, even those imperceptible to the audience. For them, being a millimeter off matters. That awareness is what makes the work feel so sharp, so seamless, so magical. (When asked how they actually do it, their answer, “It’s magic.”)
The soundscape complements the visuals: crackling textures, pulsing beats, and crescendos that amplify the otherworldliness of the lasers. Sometimes the vibe is nightclub, sometimes video game, sometimes a meditative drift through smoke and color.
GENDAI is currently a 15-minute piece, and in that frame, it works perfectly. But if the show were ever expanded to a half hour or more, spectacle alone might not be enough. A story- even a very simple one, like three dancers negotiating who’s in charge, or their evolving relationship with the light- could give the piece a dramatic arc that keeps audiences invested beyond the thrill of the visuals. There’s also a costume change that takes nearly a full minute onstage. As it stands, it’s stylish, but if it were tied to a narrative or transformation, the time spent could become dramatically meaningful.
That’s perhaps the most tantalizing part of GENDAI: what it is now is already dazzling, but what it could become is even more exciting. With its blend of technical wizardry, exacting physicality, and pure visual wonder, it stands as one of the most striking spectacles at this year’s Fringe. And if its creators ever decide to layer in story or character, they’ll have on their hands not just a spectacle, but a masterpiece.
GENDAI is a Must See: a dazzling 15 minutes of lasers, smoke, and dance precision that feels like stepping into a living artwork. Already captivating in its current form, it holds even greater promise if its creators ever choose to expand it into a longer narrative experience.
