Elegant androgyny is what springs to mind in the latest production, Chaos and Contingency, from Janis Claxton’s award winning Edinburgh based contemporary dance company. As part of this year’s Science Festival, Claxton’s latest work is a unique collaboration of art and science, and is a bespoke production for performance in galleries, museums and public spaces.
The black taped space of the floor in the grand hall of the National Museum of Scotland is the temporary stage for this unique piece. Within it, the eight dancers from Scotland and China, create a series of exciting geometric shapes to the primitive yet brilliant percussion sounds with its hints of the aboriginal from theatre composer Philip Pinsky.
The group, made up of three female and five male dancers are dressed in Matthias Strahm’s deceptively simple and long, beautiful scarlet costumes that look the same yet are subtly different for the genders. Moving with fluidity and energy, the dancers make forms and angles with muscular grace. They have no contact, dancing with a separate togetherness. At one part when they move close to a kind of knot, they then open out like the shifting petals of a gorgeous red rose. Looking down at them from the Museum’s balcony was like watching a gorgeous red kaleidoscope. Their measured and masterful co-ordination is a fine testament to their skill as well as Claxton’s exquisite choreography and vision.
Janis Claxton dancers gave an afternoon of terpsichorean delight that created calm in the clamour of the museum.
Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 March