Review by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė With an original take on a 600-year-old folk song Arirang, the award-winning musical ARI: The Spirit of Korea brings a sensory feast to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, as part of the 8th Korean Season. Directed by Junghwan Yoon and Hanchang Lim, the show celebrates South Korea’s culture and heritage through … Continued

Review by Iliyana Nedkova Here we go ‘round the young oak tree on a cold and sprightly morning at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. This resilient seven-year-old Portuguese oak, the centrepiece of our al fresco traditional dance, music and art session, is likely to outlive us and the biodiversity crisis, just like the fabled mulberry bush … Continued

  Review by Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker Is it possible for humans to break out of the endless repetitive cycles that human nature is comprised of? Or should we? And if yes, which ones do we choose to break out of and how? These are some of the questions two young and talented dancers/choreographers pose to the … Continued

Review by Yanmei Bowie I went to see the sensational Legend of the White Snake four times at C ARTS in Edinburgh, performed by Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre from Beijing, China. With a history of over six hundred years, kunqu evolved from a music and vocal style local to Kunshan (near Suzhou and Shanghai in China), … Continued

Review by Yanmei Bowie I went to see a dance show titled HuXi/Breath at Paradise in Augustines in Edinburgh, created by Glory Global Dance Centre from China. It says on the programme that it is ‘an immersive dance masterpiece blending Chinese Qi and Yin-yang, fusing traditional rhythms with modern dance’. It’s forty-five minutes long, and … Continued

Review by Vassia Bouchagiar – Walker There is a sense of intrigued expectation as we wait for the performance of Futuristic Folktales to start. To everyone’s surprise director Charlotte Mclean, along with her two performers Orrow Bell and Seke Chimutengwende, take to the stage in full bright white light in order to introduce themselves and … Continued

Review by Inesa Vėlavičiūtė Returning to the Edinburgh International Festival after the mesmerising 2022 performance of Samsara, acclaimed artist Aakash Odedra presents another spiritual dance piece, this time delving into an ancient Sufi myth about a captured songbird bulbul. Created in collaboration with choreographer Rani Khanam and composer Rushil Ranjan, Songs of the Bulbul seamlessly … Continued

Review by Yuxi Jiang Futuristic Folktales is an experimental dance theatre piece that explores bold ideas around the body, sound, and traditional culture, and themes of reproduction, identity, and the cycles of life. Created by Charlotte Mclean in collaboration with Orrow Bell and Seke Chimutengwende, the performance is described as ‘a dance of hope’. Combining … Continued

Review by Yuxi Jiang Watching Grupo Corpo was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my experience at the Edinburgh Festivals this summer. The contemporary Brazilian dance company, founded by Paulo Pederneiras in 1975, continues to innovate over time, establishing its own unique theatrical language and choreography. Through a double bill featuring Gil Refazendo and Gira, … Continued

Review by Catherine Coutts Grupo Corpo is a family affair.  Artistic Director Paulo Pederneiras founded the company – which includes five of his siblings – in 1975, and it is brother Rodrigo who has choreographed the two pieces in this programme: Gil Refazendo and Gira, both grounded in classical ballet and Brazilian folk dance.  The … Continued