THAT festival @ Macrobert

THAT festival returns to the Macrobert, and brings three days of theatre, dance, art, and spoken word performances for young people to a venue appropriately housed in the University of Stirling campus.

The programme features a great deal of work – including The Price of Everything by Daniel Bye. Performed at Behaviour and Latitude festivals earlier on this year, The Price of Everything examines the difference between price and value of something. In this performance-lecture, Bye considers the current economic climate, brought about by problematic decisions and generated by the current institutions, and tries to provide an alternative system based on community spirit. 

Meanwhile, the double bill of 925/Heartbeats features two adrenaline-packed dance pieces. Described as "dance-theatre experiments," both pieces promise to bring vitality and exhilaration to the stage. Mixing parkour, acrobatics, and hip-hop with contemporary dance, 925 provides the excitement and high energy to break the monotony of a humdrum nine-to-five life. On the other hand, fluid movement in Heartbeats is accompanied by live beatboxing from Bigg Taj, finalist in the 2009 UK Beatbox Championships.

Finally, ponydance's Anybody Waitin'? tackles dance and audience participation in a comical way. Based on their other works, like the latest gender-bender ponybois, or the Christmas ponypanto, Anybody Waitin' looks  to be an exciting and hilarious performance worth looking into. [Eric Karoulla]