Extremely Pedestrian Chorales @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Extremely Pedestrian Chorales is an experimental crossover of dance and theatre that transforms JS Bach's classic 18th century Chorales into movement, exploring the experience of the pedestrian, and transforming their journeys into acts of beauty, using movement and music. 

Originally premiering at the Findhorn Bay Festival in 2018, and making its Traverse Theatre debut as part of the 2019 manipulate festival, this piece is the second collaboration by Scotland-based choreographer Karl Jay Lewin and Italian composer Matteo Fargion, following their successful Extremely Bad Dancing to Extremely French Music. 

In this performance four dancers – Claire Godsmark, Neil Callaghan, Janine Fletcher and Lewin himself – use Bach’s choral score as a guide to create a series of simple step movements. They block out the rhythm and music and replace it with forwards, backwards and sideway sequences, almost like they are playing an invisible piano. Some sequences are comedic, while others are more serious.

Kazoos, maracas, castanets, hand bells, a laptop and 18th century powdered wigs are thrown into the mix as the piece progresses, giving the music a modern twist but reminding us of the era it belongs to. The dancers are accompanied by an eight-piece choir with vocals ranging from bass to soprano. The singers perform Bach’s stunning hymns at different intervals and the audience are transported from a black box theatre to a cathedral mass.

This piece is a celebration of high and low culture that experiments with both the classical and post-modern. It may not be for everyone – you will struggle to find a storyline or even a strong message in its 55 minutes – but there is intrigue to be had in how these performers turn everyday and often overlooked pedestrian movements into a theatrical artform.

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Extremely Pedestrian Chorales @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended, info: https://manipulatefestival.org/