Dutch National Ballet is at two venues this month, celebrating the work of the influential 20th-century choreographer Hans van Manen, who made modern dance popular with large audiences and pioneered the use of live video on stage.
In the run-up to shows at the Edinburgh Playhouse (August 24-26) and the Festival Theatre (August 29 and 30), two dancers from the company have been working with young dancers, choreographers and video students aged 13 upwards, in a series of workshops sponsored by ScottishPower on van Manen’s production of Live. The workshops form part of a growing sponsored education programme with the City of Edinburgh on dance and drama.
Pacific Northwest Ballet returned to Edinburgh primary and secondary schools in June and, with funding from the Bank of Scotland, trained up 50 young local children to take part in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Edinburgh Playhouse (August 20-22).
Playwright Tom McGrath, with professional actors and students from Queen Margaret College toured schools with a new play and resource pack, on dramatic tragedy, sponsored by the Tayburn Group and linked to festival productions of Calderon, O’Neill, Camus and Racine. Meanwhile, the Royal Lyceum Theatre ran secondary school workshops, sponsored by Standard Life, on Calderon’s Life is a Dream, which is at the Lyceum from August 17-29.
For details of study days, festival insights and lunchtime talks, tel: 0131 473 2000.
