Dance review: Prodigious, C (Venue 34), Edinburgh

By KELLY APTER
Published on 07/08/2012 12:11

LITE Fantastic is a new company set up “to bring entertaining dance to new audiences”. Judging by this first endeavour, they’re well on their way.

Prodigious

C (Venue 34)

Rating; ***

The show’s title refers to the soundtrack of wall-to-wall Prodigy. How nice to be reminded of the brilliance of tracks such as Firestarter and Breathe, and what a relief to see they’ve been well-used.

Prodigious opens with six teenagers sitting bored at their school desks, jumping up to execute the odd streetdance move. So far so ordinary. But with the emergence of three figures dressed entirely (head and all) in black, we move into some interesting mask work – a metaphor for drug use, and the effects of peer pressure.

If the storytelling isn’t always clear, there’s enough here to keep us on the right track. Having fallen out with his parents, our drug-taking teenage protagonist runs into trouble with his girlfriend – but not before they’ve executed a smooth, romantic duet blending contemporary and streetdance.

Rough round the edges, both in terms of unison and staging, there’s still lots to enjoy in this imaginative show from a promising young company.

• Until 27 August. Today 7:50pm.