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Arts:Blog

Festival Review: monumental

Jo Turbitt reviews a production full of gumption but is a missed opportunity.

A production that has gumption, grit and balls... it just doesn’t know what to do with it all!

A collaboration between The Holy Body Tattoo dance company and the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the show is a conglomerate of ambient moods; the band holds the key to the shifting energies with the audio, enticing you into Zen-like trances or mosh-pitting madness.

The content of the choreography, the structure of the work and the textures within the movement are all good, but throughout the duration of the piece it doesn’t go anywhere. Any. Where. The dancers are exceptional with excellent articulation and performance energy; each one powers through the movement, giving everything and all of themselves to the piece which hints at chances of progression. But with very limited direction to its journey, it is a missed opportunity to fully explore/demonstrate and use the full extent of the dancers talents.

The content of the work is far too repetitive, to the point of it fading into monotony and losing any compassion for the performers halfway through the show.

Deciding to sit back and enjoy the music is where one is left, rocking out with their Glastonbury-esq vibes, so all is not lost for this show. It's just a huge shame for the dancers that what they've been given to do doesn't match the magnitude of the band. Aesthetically the piece is simple with lots and lots of untapped potential, which sits waiting irritatingly underneath the constant repetition of the choreography. The balls of the work sit waiting to be used, waiting to unleash their might within the piece... and they're still there, in the corner of the rehearsal studio, holding the gumption that the choreographers have overlooked.

As for star ratings: 5/5 for the band, 4/5 for the dancers, 2/5 for the work.

monumental was presented as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. It’s run has concluded.


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