As the name suggests, the BalletBoyz dance group are not your traditional group of male dancers in tights. In their new performance, the six contemporary dancers display impressive athleticism and skill as they command the stage at McEwan’s Hall in Bristo Square.
Their new performance is in two halves: the first piece is entitled ‘Them’; and the second is entitled ‘Us’. In the two sections, there isn’t a salient narrative per se but the movements are inspired by the meanings associated with each word.
In the first half, the dancers wear colourful track suits and move fluidly in and out of a towering three dimensional cube. The meaning is open for interpretation. However their movements conjure ideas of the outsiders in society being a loose and subjective term as the dancers are able move freely without the constraint in and around the cube. By contrast, in the ‘Us’ section, the dancers wear grey communist era clothes at first, before changing to slightly more revealing attire later. The performance is much more grounded in unity as the dancers flow together and across the stage in sync.
There’s something powerful about the understated tone of the BalletBoyz performance and accompanying minimal music which rather than grasping for attention, seeks to draw the audience in.
BalletBoyz is running at the Underbelly, Bristo Square from Aug 6, 8-15 at the time of writing.
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