@ Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, on Sat 27 Feb 2016 and touring
Despite being in such close proximity to the bright lights of Edinburgh’s big venues, Mussleburgh’s Brunton Theatre maintains both an individual identity and an eclectic programme, providing a stopping point for many interesting touring productions that, for a variety of reasons, do not come into the City.
London based Tavaziva Dance, for example, directed by Zimbabwean-born Bawren Tavaziva, are here as part of their UK-wide tour. They present Africarmen: a new dance work based on Georges Bizet’s well-known opera.
This ambitious, full-length piece is set to a specially commissioned score/sound design by Fayyaz Virji: an interesting mixture of African music, electroacoustic elements and several nods towards the habanera. The small company is clearly very dedicated and the dancers accomplished, Bawren’s choreography distinctive, very physical and rooted in his African heritage.
Africarmen is at it best during its high energy, ensemble sections, the dance of the soldiers, for example, a particular highlight here. When the dancers get into the zone with such fast-paced choreography, it is genuinely thrilling to watch.
The more explicitly narrative sections work less well, interrupting the overall rhythm and flow of the piece, and are danced more tentatively. Indeed, if Africarmen was less committed to recounting its story in such detail, it could be a shorter, tighter and thus a far more effective work. There really isn’t enough material here for the full hour, and despite the often impressive dancing, by the end it feels surprisingly tired.
The main programme is prefaced by The Village, a short dance work performed by students from Mussleburgh Grammar School, the culmination of a undoubtedly very successful three-day residency by Tavaziva Dance, led by Carmine De Amicis and Ellen Yima. This has a great, bubbling energy to it, such a large troupe being really able to fill the relatively small stage with dynamic textures and shapes. It begins a little hesitantly, but quickly gets into its stride, and is extremely well performed with conviction and commitment.
There is a directness to this succinct work, and a lack of fussiness to its vitality, no doubt partly a consequence of the short timescale available for its creation. However, it is exactly this straightforwardness that is sometimes lacking in Africarmen, and it may be that here, as is so often the case, the teacher could usefully learn from the pupil.
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