Nederlands Dans Theater 2 @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) bring their junior division to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. As the NDT’s young talent division that allows them to prepare talent for the main company, NDT 2 are not a lesser company by any means.

Presenting four pieces from their repertoire, it is inevitable to remark on the versatility of the company as a whole, since each piece is radically different from the others. In Shutters Shut, choreographed by Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot, Imre Van Opstal and Fernando Troya fit their movement to If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso (1923), a poem by Gertrude Stein. While comical at first, the four minute piece is overpowering and hypnotising particularly due to its rhythm.

Meanwhile, Sara, choreographed by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, is tailored specifically to the NDT 2 company and is one of their newest. Although the dancers’ movements are smooth and in unison, and should logically offer a strong contrast to the industrial, Matrix-like soundtrack, the music and lighting design interact with the dancing to turn it into something surreal. However, the piece that frames their skills perfectly seems to be the one left for last: I New Then, by Johan Inger. Perhaps it's the feel-good influence of the Van Morrison songs, but this is the piece that brings out fascination, sadness and laughter in just under half an hour. The NDT 2 are definitely a dance company worth seeing, as they obviously have a very high standard and a clear vision of what dance today is and should be. [Eric Karoulla]