And... this show is such an exhilarating joy
DANCE AND PHYSICAL THEATRE
And
Dance Base (Venue 22), until 28 August
It begins with a traditional Scottish sword dance (“to break the ice”) and then a brief history of Highland dancing and Charlotte Mclean’s childhood in Arbroath. Later on there’s another, very different sword dance, but to say more about that would be to spoil the many surprises in this exhilarating, clever, sometimes jaw-droppingly bold show.
Mclean describes And as, among other things, “a homage to the earth, the cosmos, the miniscule, the magic, the meaning, the moment, the moments before and all that’s yet to come”. At its heart is a piece of contemporary dance which Mclean began creating while studying ballet in London and which she intends to continue performing into old age. It soon becomes clear that the dance is life itself, with all its pleasures, disappointments, anxieties, fears and constant motion, sometimes joyful, sometimes traumatic. As the choreography shifts from moment to moment, so do Mclean’s themes, as the twentysomething reels off an ever evolving list of contemporary preoccupations: climate change, feminism, Brexit, friendship, love, family, belonging, all those things that cumulatively can make you feel overwhelmed. And then, just as the show reaches its most intense and exposing moment, and you’re wondering if she’s ok, there’s a cheeky joke to break the ice again, a phone call to her granny (an unexpected highlight), and the Spice Girls.
And deserves recognition for its ambition, its humour and Mclean’s expert handling of its constant shifts in tone. It’s an impressively audacious show from a talent to watch.