Performance at the Festival Fringe Showcase “Made in Scotland”The Dundee-based Scottish Dance Theatre conquered the Zoo Southside with its double program of The herdchoreographed by Roser López Espinosa in collaboration with the company, and Sofia Nappis Moving cloud.

The herd (L’estol), originally shot in Espinosa’s native Catalonia in 2017, was inspired by the fascinating and mysterious migration of birds and happened to be performed here at the exact moment when the swallows on our telegraph lines were lining up for takeoff. It began rather meditatively with an introductory passage in which the whole troupe was ready for takeoff, knees bent and arms swinging experimentally ever higher, but then, after a brief blackout, exhausted bodies lay scattered across the stage.

One dancer, the supposed group leader, strode across the stage, rearranging and reanimating the fallen. Gradually, others awoke and, in pairs and trios, lifted bodies and passed them seamlessly from one to another, the flock working in unison. Some of these earthbound passages, reflecting the peril of the migratory journey and the sad fact that not all travelers survive, were perhaps a little drawn out. But then they were back on their feet and jogging across the stage, sometimes outpacing each other, just as in flight one group leader gives way to another. The shape of the group changed as they circled, suggesting changing flight patterns, such as those seen in flocks of starlings gathering to roost (OK, this isn’t migration, but let’s face it: it’s just as mysterious).

Given what happened before, the title of the second piece, Moving cloudmight have suggested a connection between the two, but how wrong could I be? When a man in a white see-through nightshirt and black knee socks stormed onto the stage, it was clear that we were in for something completely different. Did anyone else in the audience think of Burns’ poem? Tam O’Shanterin which the hapless Tam ends up in a cemetery where a coven of witches is dancing, led by a witch in a “Cutty Sark” – a short shirt?

Whether the choreographer had this in mind or not, to the music of TRIP, the high-profile six-piece modern Celtic music group from Glasgow, we were plunged into what felt like the craziest ceilidh you’ve ever experienced. Bizarrely costumed dancers (thank you, designer Alison Brown, for at least incorporating a kilt) performed, danced solos, disappeared, seemed to argue with each other – and sometimes with unseen others – or just did their own happy thing. The choreography can only be described as a mixture of street dance, hip-hop and contemporary dance, and all at extraordinary speed, it was dazzlingly obscure. The audience was swept up in the whole thing, clapping enthusiastically to the music – something I never seen them at a dance performance before, but nobody seemed to mind. The music was recorded, but TRIP played live at two shows over the weekend. That must have been quite a show…

***11