Edinburgh Fringe Festival dance reviews: Sushi Tap Show | Midsommar | Julieta

This round of dance and physical theatre reviews from the Edinburgh Fringe includes tap, theatrical dance, and moving performances.

Sushi Tap Show | Sushi Tap Show

Sushi Tap Show 2024 

Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236), until 24 August

★★★★

Opportunities to watch tap dancing are few and far between these days – which is a shame, because the rhythmic sounds, synchronised movement and tricky footwork of this once-popular dance form can’t help but raise a smile. Especially when it’s being performed by Japanese dance troupe Tokyo Tap Do, who squeeze as much joy into their Fringe hour as is humanly possible.

Forget sophistication and subtly, you’ll find none of that here. Sushi Tap Show was built to entertain not improve our minds, and from the moment the five-piece taps onto the stage dressed in vibrant pink suits, their commitment is to silliness not stylishness. Crucially, the whole thing is underpinned by serious technical ability, with some equally proficient circus skills thrown in.

Whether they’re dancing to classical music pretending to need the toilet, or paying homage to Riverdance, the footwork is exemplary, the timing precise, and the showmanship exuberant.

Part of the show’s success is that the dancers are so likeable. With warm smiles and bright eyes, they offer a hand of friendship to everyone in the room, and we offer it back. The numerous points of audience interaction (nothing scary or humiliating, and always as a group) are met with a fulsome response by the eager crowd. Sometimes it’s as simple as a hand clap, other times we’re making animal noises or learning a smattering of Japanese. Inevitably, we get it wrong and dissolve into laughter.

Tap dancing aside, the short bursts of circus tricks are equally impressive. Juggling blocks, hoop throwing and baton twirling may seem out of place in a tap dance show, but Tokyo Tap Do makes it all work. Even the trickiest of routines is done with a broad smile - on their faces and ours.

Midsommar

Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152), until 10 August

★★★★

One of the key attributes of Ari Aster’s 2019 folk horror film, Midsommar, is that it takes you by surprise. A seemingly innocuous opening gives no indication of the unsettling and macabre ride that lies ahead, when the action moves to a Swedish commune steeped in ritual and tradition.

Aster had 147 minutes to take audiences on that rollercoaster journey, however, InMotion Dance Collective has just 25. Yet this ambitious group of young dance students from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts makes every second count. 

Inspired by the film but not seeking to replicate its narrative on stage, co-choreographers Tiegan Doyle and Paige Sinclair focus more on atmosphere and character. We first see them scattered around the stage, playing gently with each other’s hair, smiling beatifically.

The crown of leaves and flowers that adorns each of their heads is passed gently to young women in the audience, drawing others into their female community. Each dancer wears purity like a badge of honour, soft white dresses flowing gently as they move, indicative of their age, stage and place in the commune.

Scene suitably set, the music begins and Doyle and Sinclair’s choreography bursts into life. Whirling playfully the seven dancers seem almost childlike, grasping hands and skipping, as if circling an invisible maypole.

But cracks soon start to show in this rite of passage, as bodies jerk and shudder, suggesting their minds are not as calm as they once were. Blending contemporary dance with touches of Scandinavian folk dance, the movement is fresh and engaging, backed by astute musical choices.

What impresses most, however, is the complete and utter conviction each dancer brings to the piece. Their commitment never wavers, either in their bodies or facial expressions, as the young women find themselves spent, mud-streaked and on the brink of insanity.

Walls Talk 

Assembly Rooms (Venue 20), until 14 August

★★

Somewhere, buried beneath a strangely lack-lustre delivery and incomprehensible dialogue, lies a poignant show crying to get out. Sadly, dancer Breandán de Gallaí and singer Gina Boreham, despite their individual talents, struggle to unearth it.

A reflection on the lives we’ve lived or perhaps wished we had, Walls Talk marries song and dance but neither party seems happy about the union. Jazz standards are delivered with a pure voice but little passion, de Gallaí (a former Riverdance principal dancer) can still mesmerise with his muscular movement, but his text is delivered quietly and with no discernable sense of how it all hangs together. 

Julieta 

Summerhall (Venue 26), until 11 August

★★★

An average day in Julieta’s life is not to be envied. Living alone, with no visitors, no outside interests, and nobody at the end of a phone, she uses the same routine to occupy her time. Medication is popped, wine is swigged, exercise (of a sort) is taken, and TV is watched. All of which is expertly portrayed by talented Mexico-based clown Gabriela Muñoz. She rummages inside her multi-layered costume, and interacts with the elaborate set, with perfect comic timing. 

Her lifestyle may be solitary and unhealthy but Julieta seems happy, especially when she notices an audience sitting opposite her living room. An amusing section follows, where an unsuspecting participant is enlisted to help with jobs around the house (plus a few spicy extras, if Julieta had her way).

There is no shortage of laughs in this likeable show, and Muñoz is an engaging performer.  A tighter ending would alleviate some ambiguity, however and perhaps touch the heartstrings more. We enter Julieta’s external world but never really breach her inner one, and although a once full life is hinted at in an attempt at poignancy, it’s unclear whether this was real or imaginary. Julieta made us laugh, to complete the picture she needs to make us cry.