Edinburgh Fringe dance reviews: Impasse | The Passion of Andrea 2 | Victory Boogie Woogie

Kelly Apter offers her take on three shows at Assembly’s Dance Base in our latest round of Edinburgh Fringe dance reviews – including two performances in one.

The Passion of Andrea 2 at the Edinburgh Fringe | Nadya Gorodetskaya

Impasse

Assembly @ Dance Base - Dance Base 1, until 25 August

★★★★

It goes without saying that there are not enough Black choreographers or dancers working in the field of contemporary dance. Stepping into this gap, not only as a compelling performer but as somebody making important, thought-provoking work, is Mufutau Yusuf. Nigerian-born and now based in Dublin and Brussels, Yusuf dances with Ultima Vez in Belgium and Liz Roche Company in Ireland, but the work he’s presenting at this year’s Fringe is very much his own. Impasse has a theatricality that leaps off the stage, both through its choreography and interesting set/costume design.  

The piece opens with a hidden figure, lost inside three large laundry bags; the plaid, zipped variety that people often use when travelling from place to place. A kind of voodoo dance ensues but it’s becoming increasingly clear that we’re in the land of stereotype. When we first see Mufutau Yusuf and fellow performer Kennedy Junior Muntanga in the flesh, they have their backs to us - and so it remains for much of the piece. They are faceless, anonymous, a naked body glistening vulnerably in the light, or (once dressed), running relentlessly towards the broad, white backdrop but never arriving. 

Another thing that goes without saying is that as a white person, I have no concept of the Black diasporic experience. But in his bid to ‘confront the biased narratives etched onto Black bodies throughout history’, as he describes it, Yusuf takes us a step closer to understanding.

The Passion of Andrea 2

Assembly @ Dance Base - Dance Base 1, until 25 August

★★★

Choreographer Simone Mousset was inspired to create The Passion of Andrea 2 during the pandemic when she, like many people, felt a sense of overwhelm. The pressure to have a fixed opinion on everything, rather than sit with the unknown, took her to the opposite extreme, resulting in this fun and enjoyable work. In case you’re concerned that you may not understand the show because you haven’t seen the first instalment of The Passion of Andrea, don’t worry, it doesn’t exist. Which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this joyfully ridiculous piece. 

The three performers - A de la Fe, Bryn Thomas and Lewys Holt - are all called ‘Andrea’, and as they leap around the stage wearing comical wigs it’s impossible not to warm to them. Above them hang several enormous structures, like oddly shaped fruit or baubles, giving the whole show a dream-like feel. Sections are performed, re-worked and repeated over and over, usually with the outcome that one of them ‘dies’. 

Part of the Luxembourg Showcase at this year’s Fringe, The Passion of Andrea 2 won’t change your life or challenge the way you think, but it will almost certainly make you smile.

Victory Boogie Woogie / the pleasure of stepping off a horse when it’s moving at full speed

Assembly @ Dance Base - Dance Base 1, until 25 August

★★★ 

The solos in double-bill, Victory Boogie Woogie and the pleasure of stepping off a horse when it’s moving at full speed may have little in common, but the physicality displayed by both performers is equally compelling. There’s nothing victorious about Charles Pas’ piece, despite its title, in fact it feels like life has handed him one too many bad hands. An intricate coming together of movement and sound effects (all timed to perfection), Victory Boogie Woogie revolves around Pas’ daily routine. He brews a coffee, drives his car, and scans shopping at a grocery shop - then does it all again and again. Each time his internal pressure builds, Pas’ movements become more frantic, and although there’s not quite enough here to latch onto emotionally, it’s consistently engaging.

So too Courtney May Robertson in the pleasure of stepping off a horse when it’s moving at full speed. Speaking into a microphone as she lays on the floor, we hear such penetrating statements as “this body is trained to obey”. When Robertson starts to move, however, it feels as if she’s obeying nothing but her own powerful internal rhythm. A series of projections fly beneath her feet, and while each one grabs our attention, this (too) short solo doesn’t last long enough to tie them in a meaningful way to  Robertson’s captivating movement