This year’s Fringe festival has kicked off, with over 500 shows on the schedule. Here, our writers take a closer look. See all 7 stories .

DANCE

Himherandit Productions | Mass Effect

Meat Market, until October 11

Mass Effect offers the sort of dancing you might see anywhere, but clarified, exalted and enthusiastically worked into a sweat-drenched fantasy of togetherness. Five dancers in sportswear cycle through a series of well-co-ordinated drills. They sprint, feint, bop and hop. They jounce from one leg to the other, hips opening and closing. They beam at the audience. Actually, they flirt like the very mischief. The audience re-beams at the performers because it’s all so attractively cheerful.

Hips start to slalom; arms scythe loosely. Everything gets shoutier and sweatier. S

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