My neighbour at this show by Prime, Scotland’s leading company for dancers over 60, told me she had just reached that age, so I asked what she made of Ageless. “Mixed feelings,” she said. “I really don’t want to get old.” It might not have been the takeaway the company intended – but is perhaps a backhanded compliment for a show that is no sentimental exercise in community goodwill.
It begins with a memorial. Abendsegen, set to the tender bedtime prayer from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, was originally created as an exercise to end company class. But after the death of Prime member Jill Knox last year, artistic director Steinvor Palsson developed this sombre meditation. All movement and emotion is in the rise and fall of the dancers’ arms, their clasped hands. They exit with arms held behind like angels’ wings.
One pleasure of watching older dancers is the rich intimation of life experience, of faces that have seen it all and bear their histories. It informs the most substantial piece, Palsson’s Toeing the Line?, which cannily harnesses the power of unison movement, especially those expressive arms, to Handel’s Concerto Grossi.
The dancers are grave and sprightly as the score, alternating statuesque poses with capering grimaces. It emerges like a slightly genteel version of Pina Bausch, with barbed encounters, unexpected bursts of disco dancing, a crisp hornpipe and a woman hurtling on with a suitcase to announce “I just got back from Kuala Lumpur!” Quizzical and spiky, it ends with one woman dancing obliviously, a disco dolly to the end.
The Infinite Life Journey was made by Ming-Hsuan Liu from Taiwanese company B.Dance. Four dancers in bobbing, hooped tulle skirts look like remnants from romantic ballet, and their delicate yet emphatic solos are set to a driving score by Rockid Lee. Again, Prime informs its sculptural dance with an incisive sense of personality.
Dance Base, one of many struggling Scottish arts institutions, hasn’t programmed its fringe shows this year; they’re presented by Assembly. Prime, with its community ethos and professional focus, is a worthy ambassador for the venue’s year-round work.
At Assembly@ Dance Base, Edinburgh, until 13 August
