ULTIMATE DANCER
in association with Take Me Somewhere
For now we see through a mirror, darkly
GREENSIDE AT NICOLSON SQUARE, Edinburgh
13-24 August 2019 (not 18/19), 13.50 (50mins)
Part of Made In Scotland showcases at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019.

Please note the Take Me Somewhere Artist Pass is not valid for the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe performances.

This eerie and mystical dance performance has been created in collaboration and performed with Jo Hellier and Peter McMaster. The performance includes a Visual Description developed in collaboration with Juliana Capes, which describes and interprets that which cannot be seen, but is present. The description is an accessibility function for visually impaired audiences but also functions to give access to understanding the abstract content for those who are sighted.

It is a bright space, light springs from deep below and from behind. There is nowhere to hide. There are 3 obscured vertical figures; a blood sack, a towering meat stack (or stink horn) and a jelly beast. The 3 figures signify the 3 different fires in the work: The inner fire, the secret fire and the dark fire that stimulates the other two.

Four winds blow through and it is time to journey through the gloom. This highly cryptic pictorial world can be placed under the slogan of its favourite motif – a smiling snake, a dying sun and the gentle droppings of unclean slime. Sometimes the image will spin into the abyss, and sometimes stand at the centre, and sometimes it spreads flat into broad space.

Dark matter is brought to life through great heat and distilled up to twelve times. This phase lasts for a long time so one should be patient. The terror of the situation gives us a moist hug and the most fabulous sphere of wrath, for it is here that the chaotic blood tunnel opens and we visualise the golden nugget. Evocation at its best, for now we see through a mirror, darkly.

Credits:

Choreography/Concept: Louise Ahl
Created and performed by: Jo Hellier, Peter McMaster and Ultimate Dancer
Visual Description: Company in collaboration with Juliana Capes
Dramaturgy: Crystal Cooper
Scenic Painter: Cloot & Stori
Photography: Julia Bauer

Developed through the National Theatre of Scotland’s Starter Programme (supported by McGlashan Charitable Trust), The Work Room, Beacon Arts Centre and Reykjavik Dance Festival. Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.