EDINBURGH FRINGE 2019!

It already feels like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival happened a lifetime ago, but our feet have only just touched the ground since getting back, hence the lateness of this blog! But we still wanted to fill you in on our first adventure as a company to the Ed Fringe.

After packing our rather large set into two rather small cars, on the 31stJuly 2019, we made our way up to the capital of bonnie Scotland and checked into our Air BnB home for the next month. The kitchen table in this flat became the hub of our adventure where we planned, ate, celebrated birthdays and played a nail biting game of Pictionary.

We had the pleasure of performing at a brand new venue, Zoo playground, a small but perfectly formed black box space walking distance from our flat, also sister to the larger Zoo southside venue. Zoo Playground was host to a wide variety of up and coming artists and companies in the early stages of their careers. We were lucky enough to share the dressing room with the cast of Lucy Dansers ‘If this is normal’ and shared a get out/get in crossover with Woman’s Move and her show The Sensemaker each day.

Our audiences were wonderful, we were mentally prepared to perform for one man and his dog for the entire run but by the second show we began to sell out! The nature of the Fringe meant audiences fluctuated day to day (even after flyering on the Royal Mile daily – a soul destroying necessity that we eventually got used to) but overall we were over the moon with our audience numbers, for the entire run we were only 15 tickets short of an official sell show!

We had some critics attend the show! The two most nerve wracking visits being from The Dancing Times and Four Four Two Football magazine. Luckily the outcome of both of these were great, we even made it in to the printed magazines.

‘For sheer enthusiasm no one beat The Beautiful Game by Nottingham based Next Door Dance at Zoo Playground,…………squeezed in between some smartly choreographed dance, the quartet capture superbly the highs and lows of playing and following the game……..’ David Mead – Dancing Times October 2019 October Issue, p45

‘…..The Beautiful Game was, perhaps surprisingly, flipping hilarious. Four female dancers mimed to commentary classics – Barry Davie ‘Oh I say’ was particularly extravagant……..’ Four Four Two Football magazine, September Edition

I’ve got to admit, it was like a really fun and tiring groundhog day. Each day followed the same pattern of events; wake up – breakfast – get show ready – flyer on the mile – perform The Beautiful Game – go home – wash the costume – watch a show – go to bed!

Some days felt harder than others and some days were just full of excitement, feeling so lucky and privileged to be there. We saw some incredible work from all around the world (some of which I’ve listed at the bottom of this blog) and made some long lasting memories not only as a company but also as friends.

Our hard work throughout the month has definitely paid off! Keep your eyes peeled for our Autumn 2020 tour, all will be revealed soon.

From start to finish it was a really special experience for everyone, we laughed, we cried, we networked but most importantly we performed. Every day. for 24 days!!!!

Next Door Dance recommends……

Bernie Dieters – Little Death Club

Lewis Docherty - Boar

Gravity and Other Myths – Backbone

The Beatbox collectives – Frankenstein – How to make a monster