Tutti Frutti author John Byrne to create Hogmanay dance spectacular

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 21:22

CELEBRATED artist and playwright John Byrne has been brought in to help mastermind a new celebration of Scottish culture being premiered in Edinburgh over the Hogmanay festival, The Scotsman can reveal.

The creator of the Slab Boys and Tutti Frutti is to act as a visual effects and design consultant on Off Kilter, the major new dance production which will be launched at the Festival Theatre next month.

Byrne has agreed to join forces with Edinburgh's Dance Base complex, which is staging the production, to advise on a show which will tour the world after initial runs in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness.

Byrne's involvement in the show – set to feature Highland dancing, ballet, hip hop and traditional Indian techniques – is expected to give a huge boost to ticket sales following his work on the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Tutti Frutti three years ago.

Off Kilter will feature a piece inspired by classic "shortbread tin" TV shows like The White Heather Club and Thingummyjig; an expanded reworking of a dance piece inspired by Archie Gemmell's famous World Cup goal against Holland; and a ceilidh climax set to music from the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Calvin Harris and the Rezillos.

New York choreographer Mark Morris will be creating a brand-new dance piece set to some of Beethoven's work which the composer was inspired to write by the words of Robert Burns.

And Scottish Ballet supremo Ashley Page will be creating a new piece set to the work of the late "absurdist" Glasgow poet and songwriter Ivor Cutler.

The show, which will premiere on 29 December, will also feature a spectacular piece featuring three aerial dancers, and a guest appearance from Davina Givens, a former world champion Highland dancer, plus folk musicians Martin Green and Fraser Fifield and Edinburgh DJ Dolphin Boy.

It emerged in September that Off Kilter had been awarded 343,000 – one of the biggest grants to date from the Scottish Government's EXPO fund to support major new work premiered at the capital's festivals.

Off Kilter was previously staged by Dance Base in 2004 and, although some pieces are being revived, artistic director Morag Deyes promises a whole new show will be unveiled.

She added: "The whole show is really a joyful celebration of Scotland. We want to leave the audiences grinning from ear to ear."

John Stalker, chief executive of the Festival Theatre, said: "We don't think anything like this has ever been staged before."