Julia Bottoms
Fifteen minutes of futuristic, awe-inducing laser light choreography unfold like something straight out of The Matrix. The premise is simple but effective – neon laser beams emanate from the ceiling whilst a trio of dancers dance around the space wielding handheld lasers. It’s a bold experiment in optical illusion and physical expression – one which delivers mesmerising results.
Making their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut, laser light performance group GENDAI hail from Japan, following a standout appearance on America’s Got Talent. Their show features original music composed with traditional Japanese instruments, alongside the ceremonial unveiling of custom-made paper costumes. The result is a distinctly Japanese fusion of cultural tradition and experimentation, which also makes you feel like you’re trapped inside a computer, but in a fun, y2k way.
Like a trio of heavenly gods, the three dancers construct shards of light into prisms before demolishing them, scattering light rays around the room. These architects of light seem to effortlessly spin matrices of light in their hands, as if the lasers themselves emit an energy or were endowed with a magical quality.
The opening is slickly synchronised with the percussion, as the dancers glitch, crackle and come to life. Every movement that follows is choreographed to tack-sharp perfection. At times, they lurch like malfunctioning machines, while at others, they glide around the space like bots. Chameleonic in whatever form they assume, there’s a contemporary and street experimental influence to the ways they move their bodies.
Moments of humour are unexpected but utterly charming; at times, dancers chase lasers like cats, and at others they swivel their heads with comically exaggerated rotation. The light is not merely pretty spectacle, but also a weapon – bending into a glowing bow which shoots an exploding arrow into the ceiling (which was definitely a bit Hunger Games). Still, it was a fitting prelude to the climactic finale, which felt like I was transported into a 90s-esque rave.
The show’s futuristic aesthetic has a necessarily Japanese feel in its novelty, charm and technical refinement; for the performance’s brief 15 minutes, I felt like I was roaming the neon-lit streets of Shibuya. Being half-Japanese myself, I’ve always appreciated the unique kind of ingenuity and creativity that comes out of the country.
Whilst some might say that 15 minutes is too brief to pay for a Fringe show, GENDAI offer a ‘Pay What You Can’ scheme which allows you to pay according to your own experience. In my opinion, it’s the perfect bite-sized pocket of wonder and spectacle that you might stumble across on your way through the city.
Given the technically simple premise – playing with space and light – GENDAI’s ingenuity lies in the fact that it endures as a mystery in how the dancers appear to command the light with seemingly no effort. A short and sweet exercise in sensory spectacle, GENDAI is absolutely stunning, and genuinely unlike anything else at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Recommended Drink: A Midori Sour
Catch GENDAI at Temple at WU at various times until Sunday 24th August (15 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
