May is officially the best month to be in Edinburgh, Scotland. Tourist season is just beginning to get under way (and this will be my first year actually in Edinburgh for the summer!). But the live music and dance events are getting absolutely ridiculously incredible!
The first amazing gig I saw was a stunning, hilarious, upbeat, light-hearted, and genuinely brilliant performance by the Instant Composer's Pool Orchestra, as part of the ecat series, at Queen's Hall. They have officially become my new favorite orchestra and musical performers. From the moment Misha Mengelberg wandered on stage half way through a song, wading through the players and stands to get to his piano, I was sold.
Next up, I had the opportunity to see my favorite dance company, C de la B, in Glasgow's beautiful Tramway. The garden outside set the tone for the evening, and the trampoline located above the string players made for pure brilliance. It was another elaborate set design for the company with dancers climbing stories and skirting passed percussionists and string players, while top singers came out to the front of the stage to sing and dance and interact with all of the dancers. Out of all the productions I've seen by C de la B, this one seemed to be the roughest around the edges, but the music and dance were stunning. And the eclectic mix of performers is out of this world. Next time they come to Scotland, I will go see them both nights. It's just too good to pass up and seeing this calibre of choreography and innovation is worth a second glance.
Tomorrow night, the Canadian band Metric are playing in Glasgow. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for all of my favorite songs including:
French popper, Salah, is performing at Breakin' Conventions (Edinburgh Festival Theatre) and also giving a dance workshop which I will be checking out (May 17th). It's the same day that new works performed by Mr. Peng Yueqiang (a folk erhuist), alongside Mr. McFall's Chamber, will be featured at the Reid Concert Hall!
May 18th and May 19th: Breakin' Conventions at Edinburgh Festival Theatre with Ken Swift, Salah, and other local and international acts. I'll be there both nights taking it all in...
Just when things could be slowing down, the end of the month is FULL of Dance Films, workshops, lectures and other events (Diamond Circles for the b-boys and b-girls) for Scotland's Dance Film Festival.
I would go into details, but you get the picture. This month is stacked full of events. I can't believe I missed all of this for two years in a row (but maybe glad I did because I also happened to get a lot of work done in that time...)
This footage is fairly recent (early 1900s) as opposed to the story recalled by a dancer from the 1840s:
"Us slaves watched the white folks' parties," she added, "where the guests danced a minuet and then paraded in a grand march, with the ladies and gentlemen going different ways and then meeting again, arm in arm, and marching down the center together. Then we'd do it, too, but we used to mock 'em, every step. Sometimes the white folks noticed it, but they seemed to like it; I guess they thought we couldn't dance any better." After a while she was taken from one plantation to another and entered in dancing contests with other slaves, while her owner wagered on the outcome with other owners. "I won a lot of times. Missy gave me a dress and my partner a suit." (Marshall and Jean Stearns, Jazz Dance, recounting a story that Leigh Whipper told about his old nurse).
I just returned home to Edinburgh after a busy week checking out SIN CRU's 10th anniversary hip hop week in Cambridge and the UK's Battle of the Year final in London. (The photo above is from the train ride from Cambridge to London with Sin Cru, Ken Swift, Mr. Loose, the Flying Jalapenos, as well as some other international guests).
In between chapter writing, I've been reading about disco clubs from the 1970s. And now, I'm longing for a return to disco's platform shoes, which would actually be better for my legs than sneakers right now because of the tension in my arches and heels. Damn....
Also, one of my favorite Toronto artists and favorites all around actually now has a new blog. Check out: BY LEASE FOR LEASE here. This woman is mad talented.
