Review by Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker

Everyone loves a show that leaves you exhilarated and on a high. Roser López Espinosa, The Flock, and Sofia Nappi, Moving Cloud, are two choreographers with very different and unique movement styles which, surprisingly, are successfully combined and complement each other in this double bill performance by the Scottish Dance Theatre. The intense and contrasting physicality demanded from the dancers in both pieces is an ode to the human body’s potential and endurance. 

Inspired by the migration of birds and set against a white backdrop and floor, The Flock has a meditative quality to it. Espinosa’s expertise in contact improvisation and partnering technique is obvious in this piece. The audience’s attention is captured by the repetition and development of key movement phrases, and the numerous lifts, jumps, spirals and suspensions that make up most of the choreography. This repetitive pattern – perhaps too repetitive in some instances – together with the plasticity and softness in the dancers’ movements, as well as the music that begins humbly and builds up as the choreography unfolds, creates the illusion of bodies that move effortlessly and weightlessly in tandem, in the moment, flying towards an unknown destination.

As the audience is left in a trance-like state after The Flock, along comes Moving Cloud to completely shake things up. This piece is an electric and joyous burst of energy that takes you by surprise and makes you smile. You find yourself fiercely tapping your foot on the floor under your chair and wanting to stand up and join the dancers on stage in this Ceilidh with a twist. Credit must be given to the composers of the original Celtic music for this piece, Donald Shaw and TRIP, whose tunes you will want to listen to again and again. Sofia Nappi has expertly translated this traditional Celtic music into a movement language based on contemporary dance, with a hint of hip hop. However, nothing is taken away from that feeling of celebration that you would find in any traditional Scottish Ceilidh. It is like reading Shakespeare in a different language. The words are different, but the meaning is the same. In the end, you are left wanting more. 

*

This review is published by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland as part of our Traditional Dance Criticism Course, led by dance writer and editor Róisín O’Brien and supported by dance scholar and editor Dr Wendy Timmons.

Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker was one of the six applicants, alongside Yuxi Jiang, Catherine Coutts, Alena Shmakova, Inesa Vėlavičiūtė and Yanmei Bowie, who were selected to participate in this pilot edition of the course in 2024.

The Flock and Moving Cloud double bill was performed at Zoo Southside, Edinburgh 13-25 August 2024 as part of the International Festival Fringe. It was one of the shows with trad dance roots across the Edinburgh’s summer festivals we hand-picked to review. Images courtesy of Tiu Makkonen, Brian Hartley and Scottish Dance Theatre.

Please find further details about our #traddance campaign at Edinburgh summer festivals here