New Voices @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Four short new works from four exciting choreographers are showcased in the EIF’s New Voices. Helen Pickett’s The Room is both enjoyably dramatic and theatrical. While the relationships between the four dancers are a bit bewildering, the dancing is fluid and Pickett’s choreography finds lovely lines of movement. 

The SDT dancers shake a tribal, primitive element out of Henri Oguike’s promising In this Storm.  At times playful, it finds its full power when all three performers are on stage, twisting in and out of embraces and holds. 

It’s a blur of motion as the rush of an arm or leg leaves traces of movement from the two pairs of dancers in Martin Lawrance’s fast paced Dark Full Ride.  There is some nice sharp choreography here but little variation.

The surprise of the show comes from legendary and not so new voice Twyla Tharp’s The One Hundreds, which was performed by dancers from the Scottish Ballet, SDT and the community.  As Scottish Ballet dancers Lewis Landini and Jamiel Laurence perform the 100 sequences a humorous relationship evolves, with Laurence particularly offering an engaging, precise performance. 

The highlight of the night was the opening piece, Still it Remains, choreographed by James Cousins.  Performed mainly on the ground, a quartet of women undulate, moving in and out of formation.  At times cowed, they gesture in angry supplication. Who are they watching? Who is watching them?  It is unclear but their dance leaves them simultaneously exposed yet empowered and makes for a compelling watch.