Marc Brew's latest piece, Boys Don't Dance, is a feelgood coming-of-age story set in the 1980s, celebrating the power of pop music. The show, at Assembly @ Dance Base, Edinburgh, runs until 23 August.
A return to autobiographical territory
Brew made the acclaimed show An Accident/A Life in 2024 with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, about the car accident that left him paralysed below the waist aged 20. He went on to be a successful dancer and choreographer, performing using a wheelchair. His latest piece returns to autobiographical territory, focusing on the young Marc – or dancer Ross Malloy as a proxy – growing up in rural Australia, surrounded by football fans and sheep, and told repeatedly that boys don't dance.
Capturing the joy of dance
The show captures Malloy's character's absolute joy in dancing, how totally innate it is, the rhythm in his blood as he throws himself into the routine from Footloose, or dances along to a nostalgia-fest of songs and video clips from Culture Club, Wham! and cartoon pop star Jem, to the theme from Wonder Woman or jingles for Gillette. It offers a sunny mix of disco, jazz, acro-moves and fizzing energy, with BMX tricks thrown in. It's a reminder of the power of pop music, and also of the boredom and freedom of an 80s childhood. When his mum is out, Malloy dresses up in her clothes and performs, but this thing he desires is also torturing him, as does living in a place where he has to hide his true self.
Staging and performances
Champion wheelchair Latin dancer Piotr Iwanicki plays the grownup Brew, remembering his past and reconciling with it, and he and Malloy find some synergy and inventive moves together. The staging is simple but nicely done, video designer Jamie Wardrop's backdrop of animated line drawings creates the neighbourhood, and monochrome turns to neon as Brew finds his real freedom in the big city.
It's engaging storytelling, warm and feelgood, and with a brilliant soundtrack (especially for viewers of the appropriate vintage). Boys Don't Dance was created with eight to 13-year-olds in mind, so it's not the most complex dramatically, emotionally or choreographically – and their parents might get more out of the cultural references – but it's a really sweet show.
