Consider the humanities in Scotland and Edinburgh is inevitably the primary place that springs to thoughts, particularly this month with the Fringe in full swing.
However an hour and a half up the street, a feisty competitor is getting in on the motion.
Strolling into Dundee’s spectacular V&An area, which looms like a Lego spaceship over the mighty Tay, I’m greeted by dancer Matthew Hawkins performing an intriguing solo within the entrance to the exhibition devoted to his former dance grasp Michael Clark.
‘I’m right here as a part of As a result of We’re Curious,’ Hawkins tells me. ‘It’s a neighborhood venture, getting individuals within the area concerned with dance, main workshops and so forth. The response has been actually nice.’
His angular strikes echo Clark’s personal revolutionary ballet work.
As such, it serves as a taster for the Michael Clark exhibition, Cosmic Dancer, which makes use of stage units, outrageous costumes and a cacophony of video screens to supply a potted historical past of the Scottish dancer’s extraordinary profession, from Royal Ballet wonderkid to post-punk choreographer, collaborating with the likes of The Fall, Leigh Bowery, Sarah Lucas and Jarvis Cocker.
V&A Dundee is a part of the continued transformation of the town’s waterfront. ‘It brings individuals near the river,’ says Hawkins. ‘It offers the place vitality.’
Joan Clevillé, creative director of Scottish Dance Theatre, based mostly a brief stroll from the V&A, agrees. ‘The neighborhood right here is raring to expertise new issues, we don’t really feel we've to play it protected.’
Clevillé’s most up-to-date work, Antigone, Interrupted, has transferred from Dundee to the Edinburgh Fringe, the place it performs at Dance Base till August 28.
One ace card Dundee holds is its scale.
If you happen to pivot across the metropolis’s landmark Determined Dan statue – an homage to the town’s DC Thomson comics, proper – you may stroll to the big variety of galleries, from the pop art-inspired Dundee Up to date Arts (a robust area for followers of video set up) to the extra conventional confines of The McManus.
The latter at present options A Love Letter To Dundee, a set of images by Joseph McKenzie from the Sixties to the Nineteen Eighties.
In the meantime, in the event you’re feeling match, limber up for the Broughty Ferry Lively Journey venture, which opens subsequent spring and is aimed toward getting everybody strolling and biking across the metropolis.
No marvel Dundonians are dancing for pleasure.
The logistics of visiting Dundee
Attending to Dundee
Return flights from London Metropolis Airport to Dundee from £179. The V&A is three minutes from the railway station. Trains from London from £45 one-way.
What to see
- Nostalgia-flecked musical The Steamie is at Dundee Rep till Sep
- Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer is on till Sep 4 at V&A
- A Love Letter To Dundee: Joseph McKenzie Pictures 1964-1987 is at The McManus till Sep 4
The place to remain in Dundee
DC Thomson scamp Dennis the Menace offers the rooms on the Malmaison lodge a cheeky contact. It’s handily positioned for all Dundee points of interest and is near the airport and railway station.
Costs begin from £144 per night time for 2.
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