Booking Dance Festival @ EICC

A festival within the Fringe

Feature by Mark Harding | 19 Aug 2011

“I like to use the essence of the performer's character and sculpt a piece with them. The marble tells you how it should be carved,” says Sasha Spielvogel, artistic director of Labyrinth Dance Theater, on her method of developing collaborative dance work. Labyrinth is in Edinburgh for the Fringe as part of Booking Dance Festival, a showcase of US companies performing at the EICC.

Like all eight companies in the event, Labyrinth performs short pieces in the Festival Showcase, and also participates in the Split Bill of longer dances alongside the highly contrasting styles of companies DAMAGEDANCE (exploring the limitations as well as abilities of the body) and Rhythmic Circus (tap dancing accompanied by a seven-piece band, vocalists and a beat boxer).

Labyrinth's entry for Split Bill is Noor, a biographical study about an extraordinary character from WWII. The dance follows Noor Inayat Khan's life from her time as a young woman living in Paris, her flight from the Nazis and joining the SOE (Britain's secret operations) through to working with the French resistance and her eventual execution at Dachau. Gripping events, made more exceptional because she was a Sufi pacifist (she threw away the revolver she was issued) and because much of the soundscape is derived from Noor's letters, her translations of Buddhist fables and her own musical compositions.

When asked about the responsibility of presenting such a story in dance, Spielvogel explains that the soundscape of film composer David Majzlin, including snatches of Morse code and Winston Churchill's speeches, provides a narrative backdrop. The dance itself is not literal, but presents emotional content further illustrated by the soundscape.

The solo piece is danced by Felicia Norton and the dancer-collaborator principle is in full force, as Norton had the initial interest in Noor (she is a Sufi, and met Noor's brother), researched the material, and presented and co-choreographed the piece. The work is unique to the performer's character and interests.

The two short pieces performed in the Festival Showcase also share a focus on collaboration and the uniqueness of the artists involved. The words and music for Not Even If I Try were written by Kevin Oldham, who died of AIDS in 1993, and tell the story of an older man remembering his young lover who died years earlier. The pianist (Mimi Stern-Wolfe) has previously presented the work of composers lost to AIDS and the Holocaust. The older lover is played and sung by the opera singer Gilles Denizot, whose imposing figure (over six feet tall) contrasts with the young lover, danced by Aviad Arik Herman.

The other work, Milord, is inspired by the song popularised by Edith Piaf. Marni Rice, as accordionist and chanteuse, interacts with the dancer Kathryn Mowat Murphy in a tale of a 'port girl' meeting a wealthy man.

As Labyrinth's dances suggest, viewers can expect a hugely varied programme. With eight companies of differing technique, style and approach, the Booking Dance Festival is a unique opportunity to sample what's happening in American dance.

Festival Showcase, 17-21 August, 2pm. Split Bill, 20-21 August, 4pm. Both at EICC.

http://www.bookingdance.com/festivals_edinburgh2011.html