Revel Review: Company Chordelia's Funny Take on Ageing Dancers — SkimNews

Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Company Chordelia stages "Revel" at the Byre theatre in St Andrews, building the piece around warm-up routines that open into a reverie about life on the stage.
- "Revel" is described as a funny, carefully calibrated show that treats the inevitable aches and sprains of an ageing dancer's body as material of heightened significance.
- The production centres older dancers limbering up at work, with the show's title pointing to broken Barbies and a splash of Swan Lake as visual reference points in the piece.
- The show's structure moves from the practical ritual of the warm-up into reflection on what it means for a seasoned dancer to keep showing up to work in a changing body.
Why it matters: For Company Chordelia and the Byre theatre's audience, "Revel" reframes the ageing dancer's daily warm-up — aches, broken Barbies, and Swan Lake flourishes included — as the show's central theatrical subject, giving seasoned performers a calibrated showcase built around their changing bodies rather than around hiding them.
Ask SkimNews




