Poignant, private thoughts laid bare in a stunning performance
Choreography of memories past conjured from the heart of one woman
pleasure to watch simply because of the dancers. They catch every shift of time, place and mood with their lithely expressive bodies. At one point a long, white ribbon, attached to an ankle, symbolises the trail of memories that follow us – NuShu is a performance to add to your own ribbon. EVE Mutso decided, earlier this year, to be her own dancer. Bade farewell to her career as a highlyprized principal with Scottish Ballet and stepped into the solo, Unknown.
On-stage, this state of uncertainty is made manifest with Mutso initially inside a triangular “cage” that’s just wide enough for those long-limbed extensions she holds with such poise.
But the need to push beyond what is both a security and a limitation sees her travelling into the darkness all around, her black costume making her part of its shadows – but her pale limbs and shining blonde hair, lead our eyes towards movement that isn’t afraid to jitter, even flinch, before her undiminished physical prowess asserts itself in wonderful, stretching back-bends and arabesques – still infused with classical technique but, like Mutso, in honest search for new directions. LIADAIN Herriott’s Liminal was similarly rooted in a breakaway from classical training into… well, it was hard to see what, since a technical glitch kept the necessary light source (in its pink lampshade) from descending.
As the music switched between Handel, electronic beats and Tchaikovsky, so Herriott – face rouged like a little doll – was pulled every which way between balletic lines, modern free-styles and simply finding the balance to stand still. Marianne Gunn THE word diminutive must have been coined for Christina Bianco; at 4ft 11 with a tiny frame, she makes Kylie look frumpy.
In her sparkled bodice and short red dress, she complemented the Gothic splendour of the venue and opened her act in a Broadway show-stopper style – as Christina Bianco herself.
As this is her third year at the Fringe, perhaps she has now found the confidence to “Let It Go” a little with her impressions and mimicry.
With millions of hits on YouTube, her reputation has been made on her uncanny Barbra Streisand, her quirkperfect Celine Dion and her guffaw-inducing Julie Andrews; these were all present and correct, but she also had the confidence to be herself for some of the show, revealing some of her own foibles – about her height, her childhood, and her love of music.
Singing the A to Z of divas, her Britney Spears was uncanny (with the nasal twang particularly spot-on), the turn of Iggy Azalea was short-lived and played for humour, while Gwen Stefani was a personal favourite. Bianco’s Shirley Bassey, Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf were disconcerting in their quality, but it was her moment of operatic repertoire where her expertise was dazzling.
“I love Celine Dion and Bernadette Peters the most,” she confessed, “as we share a similar vibrato.”
Her Bernadette Peters is sublime, complete with facial mannerisms too.
A unique talent who is no one-trick diva. Christina Bianco plays Aberdeen on September 9, Glasgow on September 10 and Dundee on September 11 on her Me, Myself and Everyone Else UK tour.