My Name is...

Between Tony Tanner's Charlatan, a recreation of the legendary impressario Sergei Diaghilev, Teddy and Topsy, which unearths Isadora Duncan's lost love, and My Name is Margaret Morris, this Fringe offers insights into the pioneers of contemporary dance.

My Name is Margaret Morris is perhaps the most personal work. Written and performed by Stuart Hopps, who knew Morris before her death in 1980, it is the debut monologue from one of Scotland's most famous choreographers, recalling a name from Scotland's past that has been sadly neglected.

Stuart Hopps is both charming and enthusiastic when discussing Morris. Recognising that she has been somewhat obscured in dance history, he points out that, during the 1930s, she was at the centre of the bohemian artistic world - back in a time when celebrity was more than just a synonym for inexplicable fame. She set up the Celtic Ballet of Scotland in 1947 - a first step towards a national company, developed her own system of dance, influenced by Isadora Duncan, and continued choreographing into her old age: she even worked on Hair, the then controversial musical, in 1972 when she was 81.

Hopps himself is no slouch. Perhaps most famous as a film choreographer - his first work was on the cult classic The Wicker Man, he has become Kenneth Branaugh's go-to dance specialist. Yet in an earlier incarnation, Hopps was one of Scottish Ballet's choreographers, and founded their modern dance group, Movable Workshop.

Fascinated by Morris' story, Hopps made the plunge, and wrote a monologue. Not sure whether he could make the transition to performer - he laughs that he is one of the few choreographers who went directly into creation rather than being part of a company - he enlisted his friend Barbara Rafferty to direct.

"I hadn't directed before," she laughs. Rafferty is one of Glasgow's most famous actors, however, and Hopps affirms that she has been the perfect director, teasing the necessary skills from him in a comfortable process.

My Name is Margaret Morris is fascinating on many levels. Apart from uncovering unexpected enthusiasm for modern dance from the Daily Express, it recaptures the heady excitement of Britain after the First World War, its artistic ferment and its realtionship with Europe and the American artistic exiles in Paris. In conversation, Hopps' enthusiasm and voice are quietly seductive: listening to a rehearsal, it becomes clear that it is a formidably engaging theatrical tool.

Alone in the Dance Base programme, My Name is Margaret Morris is not dance but about dance. With so much contemporary work either interpreting the pioneers, or even recreating their dances, Hopps generously provides an insight into Scotland's own originator. [Margaret Kirk]