The Shimmy Skinny Returns

Now entering its third year, The Shimmy is the love child of The Skinny Performance's love of radical physical theatre and Dance Base's mission to promote choreography in the Fringe. By taking a distinctive route through August in Edinburgh – the emphasis is still on those works that defy categorisation that begin with movement – it has established itself as a unique voice.

Self-congratulation aside, The Shimmy continues its mission to emphasise that dance is at the source of the Fringe's most bracing theatre. The focus on a specific area – now expanded to include the rising tide of cabaret – allows The Shimmy to support work that could otherwise get lost in the comedy overload, and concentrate in more detail on the artists behind the bodies.

Dance and Physical Theatre remains concentrated around two venues: Dance Base, which becomes a studio theatre for August, while maintaining a programme of workshops and classes, and Zoo – now three venues, all boasting impressive programmes of challenging work. The C ECA also promises to feature more physical performance, and even The National Theatre of Scotland can be caught working with a choreography alongside the director. The Space portfolio of venues is opening up to dance and cabaret. Although the Dance section of the Fringe brochure is compact – and consequently more readable – the importance of choreography and movement have expanded. 

Dance can sometimes be lost in the hurly-burly of the Fringe: comedy dominates and the more "serious" art forms are penned in by awkward spaces and short time slots. The Zoo programme this year – including many of the British Council supported artists – is a reminder that Physical Theatre need not be humourless. Protein are a fast paced, utterly modern company with a sharp take on the pain of mundane life: Idle Motion have two shows that are moving and experimental. The distinction between challenging and accessible theatre is often made, even by critics, but it is false: radical approaches to theatre are more often used to communicate directly rather than be an end in themselves.

The growth of cabaret at The Fringe is reflected in The Shimmy's consideration of variety, burlesque and vaudeville: the natural links between the performance, physical, cabaret and live art scenes are made easily through the emphasis on the body at the centre of theatre. The only work really not up for consideration within The Shimmy is those countless pedestrian versions of scripted plays – the unimaginative retreads of Shakespeare, the lazy versions of classic texts. 

Perhaps because of its specific remit, The Shimmy has a mission to break down the tradition of Fringe criticism as mere fodder for advertising. Working with a dedicated team, The Shimmy is conscious of being more than just a bunch of reviews and articles already commissioned include thoughtful examinations of multi-culturalism at the Fringe, the point where dance becomes comedy and the bizarre emergence of a plethora of Hitler-inspired pieces. Alongside The Skinny's general reviews and previews and articles across the year, The Shimmy aims to shine and shimmer as brightly as the stars of 2011.