plan B: Lucy Boyes, Penny Chivas, Julia McGhee, Joanne Pirrie, Michael Sherin, Robbie Synge.
The Shoogle Project is a collaboration between ‘acid croft’ Ceilidh band Shooglenifty and the contemporary dance company plan B. This meeting of unlikely genres made for an evening of wild, hybrid entertainment that actually turned out to be a lot of fun.
The performance took place at Dance Base where one of the larger studios had been kitted out with tables and chairs set around the edge of the dance floor, with the instruments for the band set up on a raised platform situated at one end. This was already looking like your traditional ceilidh and a nice touch was the placement of a sole china tea cup on each of the tables.
The place was crowded and buzzing with anticipation and once the band started we knew we were in for a good night. Shooglenifty, an Edinburgh-based celtic rock fusion band, have popularised the term ‘acid croft’ which describes their particular blend of traditional Scottish and electronic music. With Angus Grant’s sublime Celtic fiddle, Garry Finlayson’s customised electric banjo - the ‘banjax’ - and Quee MacArthur’s funk bass, this six piece band knew just how to whip up the crowd with traditional reels and manic hoedowns.
plan B is a dance company and registered Scottish charity, originally set up in 1989 by award-winning choreographer Frank McConnell and Caroline Docherty. Its mission is to develop new ways of presenting theatre and dance and to encourage participation in dance no matter what your level or ability.
The six dancers tonight began with a traditional reel, skipping up and down the space with each of them in turn collecting a member of the audience and guiding them through the first dance. During the second piece of music, the dancers performed a choreographed contemporary routine and this pattern of audience participation followed by a dance performance, was largely followed for the rest of the evening.
While it cannot be denied that everyone was warmly encouraged to get up and have a go, there was perhaps a wee problem with tonight’s performance being held at Dance Base, where the majority of the audience were fellow dancers and/or friends of the performers.
The fact that the first people to be pulled onto the dance floor were often extremely accomplished dancers was a little intimidating for some and left the impression of “a bit like being at somebody else’s party watching other people enjoying themselves”, as one audience member noted. The mix of ceilidh music – albeit rather prog-rock in places – with contemporary dance was also a little strange and unusual, and I’m still unsure whether the two are completely happy bedfellows.
Questionable stylistic melding and participatory nepotism notwithstanding, the idea of using dance performers to encourage audience involvement is a great one and in that sense this is an extremely successful collaboration.
By the final number, the vast majority of people were up on their feet, bouncing and whooping and having a wail of a time. As this tours across Scotland, playing at local village and town halls, there is no excuse not to get out, get some great music in your life and give the dancing a try.
Performance seen on Sunday 27th November
Further performances at the Traverse Theatre 26th & 27th December