Morris dancing: William Smith III, Claudia McPherson and KanjiiSegawa in Cease your Funning. Pic: Andy Ross
New work by Ashley Page, the director fo Scottish Ballet, and the great American choreographer and dancer Mark Morris, music from Franz Ferdinand to Ivor Cutler, dance moves from India to Los Angeles south central: eclectic does not even begin to cover this exuberant celebration of dance in Scotland in all its manifold varieties. If you thought classical Indian dancers could never dance to a Scottish jig, or that football or homelessness were not subjects for dance, think again.
The last five years have seen a welcome recovery in Scotland’s dance culture. Janet Smith has done wonders with her Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee and Page himself has hauled Scottish Ballet back from the brink of extinction. But smaller groups, too, have emerged, many of them encouraged by the opening in 2001 of Dance Base in Edinburgh, the country’s first serious centre for matters choreographic.
Dance Base is run by Morag Deyes who is also the master-mind behind Off Kilter. Once a dancer with Lindsay Kemp, Deyes has little truck with formal categories. She also refused to accept that a country with such rich musical heritage as Scotland had become such a poor dance relation. Not everyone wanted a Scottish “Riverdance” ( a couple of attempts failed dismally) but surely we could do better than this.
An earlier, more modest version of Off Kilter appeared five years ago which set the tone for inclusiveness and, above all, for fun. Steinvar Palsson’s “Scots Wi Hay” (a pun on the song “Scots Wha Hae”), is one of the survivors from that first line-up, an affectionate pastiche of Scottish country dancing which is a funny as ever. But Smith’s “Small Street”, a solo danced with riveting intensity by Amy Park, proved that there could an emotional heart amid the frivolity.
The new pieces, among them Page’s “Paisley Patter”, a 1950s homage set to songs by Ivor Cutler, and especially Morris’ “Cease your Funning”, set to Beethoven’s set of Scottish songs (played live) and full of Morris’s trademark musicality, have raised the bar substantially.
Morris, who fell in love with Scotland when his troupe headlined the Edinburgh Festival for years in the 1990s, is a patron of Dance Base and brought three of his own dancers over to make this piece. It was a treat to see them joining in the rowdy full company finale to a set by DJ Dolphin Boy blending tracks by Franz Ferdinand and the Rezillos among others.
With ten different and wildly contrasting numbers, some inevitably work better than others. But really, after this, nothing in Scottish dance will be the same again.
Off Kilter is touring to touring to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness until January 27. For details, go to www.offkilter.org.uk
