Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Wednesday 31 March 2004

Off Kilter poster

OFF KILTER TOOK what Morag Deyes described (in a phrase coined by historian Tom Devine) as a “cultural mosaic” of dance in contemporary Scotland. Morag is the artistic director of Dancebase, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh, and this touring production was funded by the Scottish Arts Council as a showcase for developments in dance.

As such, it was one snapshot among many possibilities, but one which proved to be both creative and enjoyable. With the exception of Frank McConnell’s ‘Innit Annat’, which had been previously performed by Freshmess, all the choreography was newly created for the show, and included a welcome return to making work for Janet Smith, the director of Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee.

Her ‘Smalls Street’ was a solo in contemporary style for Jillian Thomson, accompanied by recorded music from Martyn Bennett’s recent Grit CD. The other two solos in the show were both deliberately more traditional in style, featuring Kally Lloyd-Jones dancing the traditional Scottish ‘Seann Triubhas’ with piper Simon McKerrall, and Caroline Reagh step-dancing to fiddle accompaniment from Eilidh Shaw.

Both Scottish traditional dance and step dance figured strongly in various guises in the ensemble pieces, each of which engaged in some way with the idea of cultural mosaic. The most obvious manifestation came in Priya Sreekumar’s ‘Ihayami (I Am Here)’, which employed the indigenous movement and rhythms of dance traditions from both countries in a new creative synthesis. The choreographer was joined by Seona Elise Robinson and Merav Israel in realising the work.

McConnell’s ‘Innit Annat’ fused step dancer with hip hop and street styles in energised fashion, and the four dancers – Jillian Thompson, Tara Hodgson, Wallace Sulley and Matt Foster – were quick-witted enough to cope with an unexpected hitch when the recorded music (from Martyn Bennett’s Bothy Culture album) suddenly stopped temporarily. They covered the gap, and picked up the flow again in impressive style.

Hodgson and Vincent Hantam danced a duo to recorded music by singer Sheena Wellington, but the remainder of the music in the show was composed by John Rae and performed live by his Celtic Beet (renamed from Feet for the occasion), featuring the drummer with Paul Harrison (piano and synths), Russell Hunter (piano and fiddle), Eilidh Shaw (fiddle), Martin Green (accordion) and a guest piper, Back of the Moon’s Simon McKerrall.

Three of the band appeared on stage with dancers Sarah Ruijs Slifer, Kally Lloyd-Jones and Vincent Hantam in Steinvor Palsson’s ‘Scots Wi’ Hay’, a spoof on 70s television shows which took its punning title from the straw bales which once decorated the studio for Thingummyjig. Two more pieces by the choreographer, ‘Uisge’ and ‘Yours Aye’, closed the show with the full ensemble of dancers and more new music by John Rae.

The drummer also provided music for short video projections by John McGeoch of Arts in Motion, including a colourised archive clip of women waulking tweed which Rae accompanied with a stride piano piece entitled ‘Napier Stride’, and a very effective animated version of one of James Hawkins’s distinctive landscape paintings.

© George MacKay, 2004

Related Link:

Dancebase website