Home Culture Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 – Tandava

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 – Tandava

July 23, 2023 9:13 am

Simon Thacker and Piah Dance Company present Tandava as part of the Made in Scotland showcase in a World Premiere.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe includes shows from around the world which make the pilgrimage to the world’s biggest arts festival. One of these is Tandava, at the Space Niddry Street from 18-26 August (not 21). Exploring the concepts of primal rhythmic energy and the impossible union of opposites, Tandava blends Edinburgh’s own guitar alchemist Simon Thacker and his startlingly passionate soundworlds with the infinitely expressive physicality of three of India’s most gifted dancers from Piah Dance Company. Together they create an unforgettable journey of rhythm, emotion and the vibrant essence of Indian dance. Tandava is part of the Made in Scotland showcase, a prestigious curated “festival within a festival”, designed to show the best of Scottish arts and artists, often in international collaboration.

The Sanskrit word Tandava represents a cosmic dance which is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution, unifying seemingly irreconcilable opposites. Simon Thacker and Piah Dance Company explore Tandava, finding exhilaration in uniting polarities: explosive guitar wizardry and stunningly intricate footwork with hauntingly beautiful melodies and delicately fluttering fingers; multilayered choreography and ecstatic rhythms of unstoppable momentum with sounds of timeless fluidity and movements of sublime serenity. Weaving musical alchemy and breathtaking choreography, Tandava is an unforgettable multisensory experience.

Simon Thacker is one of Scotland’s most compelling musical figures. He has nurtured the next generation of Scottish based guitarists and composers at Edinburgh College and Edinburgh Napier University over the last fifteen years. His revelatory explorations have attracted worldwide acclaim, especially across the Indian subcontinent. Piah Dance Company, founded by Priya Varunesh Kumar, draws on the rich heritage of classical Bharatanatyam training and a deep love of Gujarati and Rajasthani folk forms to realise new visions for their art. Piah Dance Company first collaborated with Simon Thacker in 2019’s Mann Vasanai. This world premiere of Tandava is their highly anticipated first full production together.

Uniting Simon Thacker’s emotionally charged soundworlds with the enchanting choreography of the India-based Piah Dance Company, Tandava is a revelatory intercultural exploration of the expressive power of the visible and invisible, dance and music.