Review: The Flock and Moving Cloud

Scottish Dance Theatre are back at the Fringe with two bold new works with visually arresting and utterly contemporary movement. They centre the idea of community and how this involves the melding of individual voices, with absolute trust expected and delivered by the nine dancers. It is 85 minutes of dynamism and versatility, with each work expertly choreographed by two of Europe’s most exciting dance makers. 

The two halves of the show, The Flock and Moving Cloud, are both debuted by the Dundee-based company with the shorter of the two, Moving Cloud, specially commissioned for the company. Choreographer Sofia Nappi worked alongside Glasgow-based music collective TRIP to create a piece rooted in and soundtracked by glinting Celtic tradition and culture. The dancer’s movements are strange, contorted and low, with each movement studied closely. It creates a mystical atmosphere that the dancers build upon into a festival of folkloric ecstasy. Dancer Kai Tomioka is perhaps the standout in this piece, his solo moments displaying dazzling acrobatics and musicality. 

Dancer Jessie Roberts-Smith in The Flock | Photo by Brian Hartley

Like Moving Cloud, The Flock is a communal but dynamically choreographed piece that draws inspiration from migration and birds in flight. It starts with a sequence in v formation much like you see with geese in flight, the dancers movements tightly together, building to a cresecendo that demands total trust between performers. It is startling to watch the poetics of a dance company who have this trust; it elevates these dancers from individuals performing moves to those who are totally in command of the stage. 

These two works are very different but what binds them are these ideas of trust and community, balanced against not just fitting into a certain mould. It is enchanting to see this translated into something as experimentally rich and visually lush as this show, one that utterly enchants an audience, that is accessible yet profound.