Dance
TOP PICKS: XENOS, Festival Theatre, August 16–18; Kadamati, Palace of Holyroodhouse, August 22 The festival’s commemorations of the end of the First World War continue with XENOS, a solo work by celebrated choreographer and dancer Akram Khan that will be his final performance as a dancer in a full-length piece. Commissioned by 14–18 NOW, XENOS looks at the conflict from the viewpoint of an Indian colonial soldier fighting in the trenches. To coincide with his festival run, Akram has also choreographed Kadamati, a free outdoor performance that will bring together hundreds of dancers from Scotland at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
For Autobiography, choreographer and director Wayne Macgregor worked with scientists from the Wellcome Trust to sequence his own genome, then created 23 dance sections from it. A computer algorithm determines the order in which those sections are danced each night, meaning that each performance of Autobiography is unique. At the King’s Theatre, Kiss and Cry Collective’s Cold Blood has a cast of “dancing hands” performing against a miniature film set, and Sharon Eyal choreographs two shows – OCD Love and Love Chapter 2 – for Love Cycle, a visceral double-bill about love and obsession.