Velvet Petal Scottish Dancer Theatre
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Velvet Petal

S.A. McCracken
What does the controversial photography of Robert Mapplethorpe have in common with the life cycle of a ...
Welcome to Dance International Glasgow (or DIG Festival) where I’m at The Tramway, home of Scottish Ballet, for the world premiere of their new production, Each Other. This piece, created by Dutch-Israeli choreographers Ivgi and Greben, is an exploration of borders, of division and unity. Tom Parkinson’s score was created in studio with the dancers as they rehearsed, and therefore responds to, rather than dictates the choreography. An electronic thrum is broken by the occasional piano melody, but more often than not, by a sound like boots crunching on gravel. The stage is covered in shoes: trainers, pumps, boots, heels, all scattered across the floor at random. A few dancers in ragged, flesh-tone clothes rearrange the shoes to create barriers, islands of bare floor, and paths between these spaces. Why shoes? They come to evoke so many things during the show: all of the shoes a ballet dancer must go through during their career; individuals lost in a consumerist wasteland; the famous archive of shoes on display at Auschwitz, and the increasing comparisons between contemporary politics and events building up to WW2. The wealth of possible interpretations is one reason why I’ll be thinking about this production for some time. Ivgi and Greben’s choreography creates the illusion of contact improvisation, and is heavily influenced by contemporary dance, with the occasional traditional ballet flourishes and stag leaps. The company moves in and out of unison, pulsing with the score in clannish formations. Yaron Abulafia’s lighting design is subtle and atmospheric, creating a searchlight effect in the frantic border-building scenes, or when the dancers tear down these barriers of shoes. The one comic scene –where a dancer shuffles slowly onto the stage carrying an impossible number of shoes – takes a dark turn as he is buried alive beneath them by the rest of the company. We’re treated to an extraordinary solo by Kayla-Maree Tarantolo, the rebel character who walks along the top of the wall of shoes, instead of choosing sides. Taratolo’s solo tells her character’s story through a range of contortionist-like movements before reaching an ecstatic, breathless conclusion – which is something like what you’ll be feeling after you watch this production. Each Other engages adeptly with the International theme of DIG festival, inviting us to question the purpose and consequences of borders within and between nations, as well as the role of the individual in the crowd.al
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Scottish Ballet: Each Other

S.A. McCracken
Welcome to Dance International Glasgow (or DIG Festival) where I’m at The Tramway, home of Scottish Ballet, for the world premiere of their new produc...
Hay Fever. Photo Mihaela Bodlovic
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Hay Fever

S.A. McCracken
Dominic Hill’s production of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever is a playful if traditional take on the well-loved 1924 comedy of manners.
Faslane Tron Theatre, Glasgow
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Faslane

S.A. McCracken
For those of you who’ve never heard of Faslane, it’s the Trident nuclear warhead base in Scotland. Jenna Watt’s one-woman show is an exploration of wh...
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Transit

S.A. McCracken
The ZENDEH theatre company uses a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear as its slogan: ‘The weight of this sad time we must obey; Speak what we feel, not...
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#negrophobia

S.A. McCracken
#negrophobia is a searing, multimedia exploration of attitudes towards black male bodies. The production defies categorisation, blending poetry, dance...
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The Cause of Thunder

S.A. McCracken
The Cause of Thunder is a blistering one-man Brexistential crisis full of humour and pathos. The show tells the story of Bob Cunningham (played by cel...
Black Beauty Red Bridge and Traverse Theatre
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Black Beauty

S.A. McCracken
Saddle up for Black Beauty as you’ve never seen it before; the McCuddy brothers are guaranteed to whinny you over. These so-called Equestrian Illusion...