Not quite a free show (you still have to pay the entrance to The Zoo!), but certainly another good reason to visit Edinburgh Zoo this summer. Putting four female dancers in an animal closure might sound like a gimmick or cheap stunt, but unlike David Blaine, who had eggs and rotten vegetable thrown at his cage, these captives are viewed with genuine inquisitiveness. A few parents are clearly sceptical, but they have a hard time dissuading their young children from trying to communicate (physically) with the silent dancers- and this of course is the point. The show is not a live view Big Brother or animal rights protest, but an exploration of physical movement, as the protagonists play with each other and the audience, who can teach them dance moves from in front of the glass. Take your family along soon as the absence of an alpha male means Dancise Tiptapicus, as dubbed by their keeper, are an endangered species.
4/5 
Gareth Braddick
