When modern dance meets the Underworld

KELLY APTER

Orfeo ed Euridice by Opera North and Emio Greco

WHEN International Festival director Brian McMaster invited Italian dancer Emio Greco to Edinburgh in 2000, he was squeezed into a late-night, post-opera slot at the Festival Theatre. Greco's Extra Dry pulled a small, but appreciative, crowd. A year later he returned with Double Points: 1 & 2, a stunning solo set to Ravel's Bolero that has rendered the music lost without him ever since. Yet another invitation was extended to Greco in 2003, when he performed two group works, Conjunto di NERO and Rimasto Orfano. Greco is in the Festival line-up again this year, only this time he has switched genres, from dance to opera.

Acting as a theatrical matchmaker, McMaster introduced Greco and creative partner Pieter C Scholten to the Leeds-based Opera North - also a Festival favourite. Aware that dance plays an integral role in Christoph Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, McMaster suggested the two companies join forces to stage the 18th-century opera.

[remainder of article here]