A gun rests on a shiny serving platter at the start of this technically ambitious show, choreographed by Baptiste Hilbert for Luxembourg’s adventurous AWA. When it is whisked away by a waiter, two members of the company arm themselves instead with video cameras, the components assembled like assault weapons.
The duo remain on stage throughout, solemnly weaving around dancers Catarina Barbosa and Georges Maikel. A live feed projects their images in a sort of small-scale equivalent to Scottish Ballet’s 2022 international festival hit Coppélia.
The initial problem here is how little that footage adds to the drama in which Barbosa’s character is caught in the control of an imposing villain played by Maikel. In their first jittering pas de deux, she is spent spinning and then beckoned back to him, her fluttering continually crushed by shuddering power. But while projections can enhance a production on a vast stage, illuminating key details, this is an intimate fringe venue where the dancers are incredibly close. It is only the most extreme closeups that bring any further charge to the scenario and, over the course of an hour, the footage often feels like a distraction.
There are some awkward scenes where the dancers caress the cameras as if partnering them but as the show proceeds some of the technical set-ups do bring striking perspectives, such as when Maikel’s tormented solo is simultaneously filmed from the front and back. A tension is also created between a contemporary style, which for him is centred in the chest, and balletic movement, such as Barbosa’s strong footwork. The piece is performed to a classical score that incorporates a glitchy remix of the richly atmospheric, propulsive Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. But with no dialogue or specific setting, this crime thriller’s precise plot is a mystery in itself.
The familiar noirish territory is hardly questioned or subverted until the end which benefits from a high-impact lighting design by Nicolas Tremblay. The final image comes not when a pistol is fired but a confetti cannon. It is an impressive finale for another of dance’s useful experiments in pairing up with film.
At Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, until 28 August
