ED2013 Dance & Physical Theatre ED2013 News

City Glimpses brings dance to the Festival streets

By | Published on Monday 19 August 2013

City Glimpses

The second week of the City Glimpses dance project kicks off later today, staging impromptu dance sequences at three sites around the Festival, which can be watched live (they each take place inside, but close to a window visible from the street) or via a stream online.

Conceived and directed by choreographer Sophia Lycouris, this is a site-specific dance project. Three dancers perform each day, creating a unique piece of movement to accompany pieces of writing submitted by the public about city living. Musicians from the Edimpro group then improvise music on top, so that, unusually, the music fits with the dance, rather than the other way round.

Writing about the project, Lycouris said: “As the Principal of the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland, John Wallace, said recently in a Fringe event, ‘dance is a universal language’ – the most accessible art form. What really fascinates me as a choreographer is the potential of movement to communicate at a visceral level”.

She adds: “When we watch dance, we often feel the movement in our own bodies. The artistic message travels directly from the bodies of the dancers to the bodies of the audience – it becomes a physical sensation. In this new project, I want to bring momentary but intense dance sensations straight into the streets of Edinburgh”.

The improvised performances take place each day at three Edinburgh University sites, Evolution House on West Port, St Leonard’s Land on Holyrood Road and Inspace on Crichton Street, near the Fringe’s Bristo/George Square hub. Or people can watch the performances from the comfort of their own home via a live stream.

You can watch last week’s performances in an archive here, or follow future performances as they happen live here.



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