Entering the performance space where not for glory is to be performed, audience members are strongly encouraged to avail themselves of earplugs. It is the first indication that what is to come will be an overwhelming sensory assault, in the best possible way.
not for glory is in essence a deconstruction of the highly pressurised worlds of competitive Highland Dance, Irish Dance and bagpiping. The three talented performers seek to reclaim and breathe new life into the heritage, cultures and traditions of these artforms that have shaped them – for better and for worse – by tearing them down and remaking them.
The piece starts with a frenetic simultaneous showcase of each artistic tradition under scrutiny, traditional Celtic artforms as twenty-first century rave. Charlotte Mclean and Jack Anderson perform Highland and Irish Dance steps respectively, while Malin Lewis plays a tune on the bagpipes (hence the earplugs – it is a small space).
The performances become increasingly desperate, an unrelenting merry-go-round until each performer breaks, bagpipes wheezing to a halt, dancers glitching and falling. Clearly the pressure of competition, the drive for perfection is too much.
Clichés of Scottishness are then undercut in a sort of surreal pastiche of the repressed traditions represented by dance and piping competitions. The stage becomes a mad village fete or Highland Games, punctuated with increasingly surreal announcements about Highland cows and badly parked cars.
We are shown how the cruelty of performing in competitions can suck the joy out of the dances and music these performers clearly love, driving them away. In one particularly distressing scene, Lewis drags their bagpipes across the stage like an anchor, before taking them methodically to pieces. The whole is clearly very personal for each performer.
It is this highly personal nature that leads to the show’s one true misstep. Instead of showing us how they have now each come full circle, back to loving the dances and music that have been such a part of their lives, they tell us. Each performer gives a short speech on their changing relationship with their respective tradition, before delivering a joyful performance of it. This clunky framing device does a disservice to their skills as artists.
These skills are evident in their ability to present their traditional artforms to a high level while also breaking them down completely. As well as being a talented dancer, Mclean offers a committedly unhinged performance throughout, pinballing around the stage one minute before calmly offering shortbread to the audience the next. Lewis’ final tune on the bagpipes is beautiful, and they switch easily from pipes to fiddle.
Anderson is the standout, however, clearly equally at ease with traditional Irish dance and more contemporary styles. His movements are graceful and pin-sharp. The highlight of the entire show is his astonishing, dead-eyed, techno-scored tap dance performed with incredible, machine-like precision.
Despite being a highly personal piece, not for glory also works as a broader reflection on how love and joy for something can be lost through decontextualisation and pressurised competition. It is not always perfect, but it makes for an unrelenting, spectacular hour of dance and performance, presented with complete commitment and passion.
Performed at Assembly @ Dance Base on 14 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe
11-23 August (not 17), 19:45
Transferring to Cecil Sharp House, London as part of Dance Umbrella 13-14 October
Running time: 1 hour, no interval
Created and performed by Jack Anderson, Malin Lewis and Charlotte Mclean