Time to shoogle with Shooglenifty

The Shoogle Project in action.

IT was a distinct lack of shoogling at a Shooglenifty gig that inspired Black Isle-based choreographer Frank McConnell to propose "The Shoogle Project".

"I went to see a Shooglenifty gig in Cromarty and I was struck by the fact that people were reticent to get up and dance," he explained.

"I approached the band at the interval and said do you fancy doing a show together, and they said yeah, why not.

"It was as quick as that, but it took me a while to get the funding together – there are 15 of us on the road, six dancers and six musicians and three technical staff, so it wasn't cheap. We tried it out initially in March for a very short tour and it all seemed to work well."

The project is a collaboration between McConnell's company, plan B, and the band. He has worked in the past with Shooglenifty's bass player, Quee McArthur, and already has a name-check in the Shooglenifty catalogue.

"I had worked on a few things with Quee, particularly with Freshmess, the dance company and hip-hop crew in Edinburgh," McConnell said.

"I've known most of the band for a long time and we've been good friends. There was a wee rhythm figure that came out of one of the Freshmess projects with Quee that they eventually worked up into 'McConnell's Rant'," he explained on their 'Troots' album."

Ironically that particular track has not made it into the show. The music is a combination of established favourites from the band's repertoire with some new material written specifically for the project.

It has been touring in the Highlands Islands and the North East, culminating in tonight's show at Eden Court and two final performances at Dance Base, Scotland's national dance centre in Edinburgh, over the weekend.

"It's been good, although I suppose audiences could have been better, but we're all being constantly battered by newsreaders and journalists and politicians telling us about the economic crisis and how we shouldn't be frittering our money away on fripperies like enjoying ourselves. Apart from that, it's been going great," McConnell said.

So, having decided to part with their hard earned cash, what should the customer expect from the show?

"Basically the dancers act like hosts for the evening and invite the audience into the space and onto the floor," he explained.

"Sometimes they get up and just jump aboot, and sometimes they get involved in wee improvised structures with the dancers.

"There are some interesting questions about when is it organised performance and when it is just social dancing, and when are we all actually just listening to a gig."

There are sections of the evening that McConnell has formally choreographed for the six dancers while other sections invite that audience participation.

"It almost happened in Aberdeen that members of the audience were getting up to dance in the middle of the performance element of the show," he said.

"It's really quite an unpredictable show in that respect – very fluid, and there is a huge amount of joy in it.

"Each of the venues has been set out socially with tables and chairs and a bit of room for dancing, but there is no compulsion. If people just want to sit and watch the band and the dancers they are completely free to do so. There is no coercion on our part.

"We do want to encourage participation, though, and what we are finding is that most people will get up at some point, even if it is right at the end."

McConnell was to be one of the six dancers, but an ankle injury led him to miss much of the tour. However, he hopes to be back in action in Inverness.

Joanne Pirrie has been standing in for McConnell on the tour, alongside Michael Sherin, Penny Chivas, Lucy Boyes, and two plan B associate dancers, Robbie Synge and Julia McGhee.

* "The Shoogle Project", OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, tonight at 7.30pm.