Deiseil: Dancing in Time ★★★★
theSpace (Venue 45) until 16 August
In 1948, audiences were wowed by Scot Moira Shearer in the film ‘Red Shoes’. Nearly 80 years later, another Scottish dancer – Alison Carlyle – is wearing red shoes to impress, but now the genre is Scottish step dance. Together with fiddler Amy Geddes (Fyne Fiddles) and director Gerry Mulgrew (Communicado Theatre Company), she has put together Deiseil (pronounced jay-shal and meaning many things, including ‘clockwise’ or ‘sunwise’) in which the girls appear. It is a love letter to step dancing, tracing its decline – then subsequent resurgence in Scotland from the 1990s onwards, thanks to the Scottish diaspora in Cape Breton.
Deiseil is full of energy and humour, swinging effortlessly between music, dance, song and spoken word, both Gaelic and English. Amy and Alison are comfortably but well-dressed in jeans or trousers and shirts. Unlike other forms of Scottish dancing, step dancers are seldom seen in tartan, allowing the audience to focus on the performance, which starts with a strathspey and reel. Alison Carlyle has fabulous technique and makes excellent use of the space to ensure that she is as visible as possible. Both dancing and fiddle accompaniment are very relaxed and expressive: The warm interaction between the two is lovely to see, and on a number of occasions, Amy puts down her fiddle to sing or to join in the dancing.
One particularly visual segment has the ladies hanging up and then moving in and out of washing on a line – showing a Scottish landscape – before the audience is encouraged to help put it away and to join in clapping different rhythms. Following this hilarity, we move on to a wistful but beautiful piece on the Moidart clearances.
“Step dance is alive!” shouts Alison. The lights go out, and the performance is over. Whilst Deiseil is a gorgeous piece, the evening is not without its faults, which are technical and connected to the venue. Amy’s soft lilt is mostly inaudible from the back row, and microphones would have benefited both her and Alison, who could have saved the energy she put into projecting her voice for dancing.
Trying to find a suitable venue during Edinburgh Fringe is very difficult and, sadly, the set-up at The Space is not fit for watching a dance performance – the seating is not raked and unless you stand up or crane your neck, it’s impossible to see anything below the performers’ shoulders. Those in the know had arrived early to get a good seat. The venue is not hugely accessible, either – there is a stair lift and a ramp, but the latter is so short and steep it’s better suited to a BMX park. Nor could I see anything to indicate there is an up-to-date hearing loop. I understand that there are plans to take this fabulous piece on tour next year and I look forward to going again – hopefully in a venue which allows Amy and Alison to shine.
Catherine Coutts, THE QUINTESSENTIAL REVIEW