Seductive Steps

Festival Dance: Scottish Dance Theatre – Dance Base until August 22

Reviewed by Elizabeth Schwyzer
Sunday Herald Edinburgh Scotland

It’s not just hype – Scottish Dance Theatre really is on top form, and this Fringe programme shows off its delectable dancing. In utterly distinct styles, both Didy Veldman’s Track and Sean Feldman’s Moment explore themes of competition and seduction, and the interplay between desire and rejection.

Moment is wonderfully evocative, full of aggressive slashes and great lunging grasps executed with startling fluidity and set to Tim Motzer’s pulsating, percussive soundscape. Track takes a more literal tack, contrasting Victoria Roberts tottering on blood-red heels with Philippa White in her panties going to extreme lengths with a roll of masking tape. In an intimate space like this, detail is everything, and these dancers really hold up under close scrutiny, because they know how to dance with one another. It’s the moments of recognition between them that makes Scottish Dance Theatre such a joy to watch.