Scratch Night | Wednesday 29 October | 19:00-21:00 | £10/8 | Book Now
An exclusive first look at works-in-progress by some of Scotland’s leading dance artists, curated and hosted by Dance Base Artistic Director Tony Mills.
The Dance Base Scratch Night is a unique platform in Edinburgh which brings live dance work to audiences and creates a supportive platform for dance and movement artists to try out ideas on the stage, experiment with an audience and share their work with their peers, the sector and the public.
The evening will be hosted by Dance Base Artistic Director Tony Mills, who will create a safe space for artists to receive feedback from you, the audience, through a relaxed facilitated conversations.
Along with space in the theatre for conversation during the show, there will also be drinks in the interval and at the end of the show, providing space for audiences and artists to connect.
Let’s move. Book your tickets now.
Infinity by MC Laffitte
Infinity is a physical deep-dive into the loops we live—those life cycles that keep circling back, just when we think we’ve moved on.
Inspired by the ∞ symbol, this piece is about the feeling of being stuck, being stretched, and learning to ride the waves of change. Change isn’t always clean—it’s full of twists, stumbles, steps forward, steps back.
This piece explores those spirals through a constant thread of motion: looping, expanding, contracting, reaching beyond the body, and returning inward.
Infinity pulls from Hip Hop vocabulary—not just for its rhythm and groove, but also for its groundedness and flow. The movement breathes, rolls, repeats, and keeps evolving— a continuous rhythm that mirrors the cycles we live through.
Image Credit: Brian Hartley
More about MC Laffitte
MC Laffitte is a Glasgow-based dancer and choreographer who specialises in Hip-Hop and Afrobeats. MC began her dance training in Glasgow under Yasmin Doak before joining AKO and the THREE60 street dance company in 2019. Mentored by THREE60 directors Kemono L.Riot, Adam McMillan, Levent Nyembo, and more intensively Divine Tasinda, MC has developed a style centred on musicality, embodied storytelling, and deep connection between sound and movement.
Her work explores personal expression, untold narratives, and the celebration of individuality. MC has performed at major platforms including the Edinburgh Fringe and DIG Festival, and has choreographed original work through ProjectX’s Artist Voice programme. Other credits include performing with choreographer Mele Broomes and Ashanti Harris, as well as appearances in music videos and live performances across Scotland.
Through dance, MC aims to foster dialogue and empathy across diverse communities, using movement to connect people with compassion and authenticity.
iterations by Ellen Crofton
Before there was earth or sea or the sky that covers everything, Nature appeared the same throughout the whole world: what we call chaos: a raw confused mass, nothing but inert matter, badly combined discordant atoms of things, confused in the one place.
(Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Bk I:1-20 The Primal Chaos)
In this dance performance, Ellen Crofton choreographs a state of repetition, tension, and unfolding; seeking iterations and rhythms in chaos. With echoes of line dance, renaissance dance, and everyday gestures, the dancers move between precision and disorder. What happens when we seek continuum and patterns in chaotic states within our bodies, our systems, or our communities? Perhaps the rhythms we find allow us to remain rooted in shapelessness. iterations is an offering or invitation—how can we collectively feel rooted when we dance in the chaos? And how can we use this as power against harmful systems or as a tool for protest?
Image Credit: Ezra Coulier
More about Ellen Crofton Taine
Ellen Crofton is an experimental multidisciplinary artist and dance choreographer.
Ellen works with embodied and experiential research methodologies and articulates their research through choreography and alternative processes: interactive or experimental sound (such as contact mics), experimental film techniques (abstracting digital film or using alternative processes with 8mm film), and performed or written text.
With a focus on performance during the MLitt Fine Art Practice course at The Glasgow School of Art (2022-2023) and through the study of English Literature at undergraduate level (with a focus on Renaissance Theatre), writing plays, and working with a theatre company, Ellen’s practice relies on various mediums and their intersections. Prevalent in all their work is a keen interest in the transitional state of performance, audiences, and the stage, as well as liminal, radical or collective spaces.
Agrino Lounge by Sotirios Panagoulias
A surreal cabaret of love, transformation, and becoming.
Inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s L’Après-midi d’un faune and Debussy’s iconic score, Agrino Lounge transports the mythic Faun into a glitzy Mediterranean nightclub, where feathers, sequins, and synths shimmer under the lights. At the heart of the story is Bijoux, the radiant queen of the cabaret, whose world begins to unravel when a mysterious stranger appears. In the intimacy of her dressing room, he transforms — or seems to — into a half-man, half-agrino (wild mountain goat). What follows is a duet of desire, fear, and awakening. But is he real, or merely a figment of longing?
Blending contemporary dance, drag artistry, and surreal stagecraft, Agrino Lounge explores identity, fantasy, and the deep yearning to live beyond expectation. The work dances between narrative and abstraction, touching on ballet, queer aesthetics, and the transformative power of performance. At its core, Agrino Lounge asks: Can fantasy reveal truth? Can love, even imagined, awaken our truest selves? Visually rich and emotionally charged, Agrino Lounge invites you to step into a dream — where myths come alive and we dare to become who we truly are.
Image credit: Sotirios Panagoulias
More about Sotirios Panagoulias
Sotirios began training in dance at the Limassol Municipal Dance Centre. They continued their education at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, graduating with a BA degree in Modern Ballet. After the Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella tour, they worked as a dancer at Scottish Opera. Later, they danced in Czech Republic, collaborating with Ballet Prague Junior, Prague Chamber Ballet and South Bohemian Ballet. There, they had the opportunity to dance a wide range of repertoire from classical ballet to contemporary, opera and musical theatre. Sotirios has postgraduate studies in Cultural Policy and Development while continuing their education in Teaching and the Performing Arts.
Today, they are a Lecturer in Ballet at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and an Associate Tutor in the Department of Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh. Their research interests include gender in dance, traditional culture and material design in performance. They continue to build their choreographic career and research with new works in Cyprus and the UK.
Previous works include: Fragmental (2019), Concerto 2.0 (2023), Shuffle and Cut (2023), The Gardener on a July Day (2023), The Burden (2023), Were you sleeping? (2025).
More about Chris Mills
Christopher Mills (Chris), born in 1994, grew up on the Kāpiti Coast of Aotearoa (New Zealand), training at Judith Fuge Dance School. He went on to complete four years at the prestigious New Zealand School of Dance, pursuing his passion for movement. From 2017 to 2021, Chris danced with Australian Dance Theatre under Garry Stewart, touring internationally and working with choreographers including Adrianne Semmens, Ina Christel Johannessen, Alison Currie, Philippe Kratz, Lina Limosani, Julia Robert, Rudi Cole, and Stewart himself. In 2022, he joined Sydney Dance Company, performing works by Rafael Bonachela, Stephanie Lake, Charmene Yap, and Sophia Ndaba. The following year, he returned to Aotearoa to work with the New Zealand Dance Company, collaborating with Xin Ji, Xiao Chao Wen, and Tupua Tigafua. In 2023, Chris performed Are You OKAY? by Panos Malactos in Cyprus, and Dead Mouse, a duet with Milena Ugren Koulas. He has also taught at the New Zealand School of Dance, sharing repertoire and choreography with students.
Joyous (working title) by Dorine Mugisha
Joyous (working title), is an extract from a dance-theatre piece by Dorine Mugisha, primarily aimed at younger audiences, using movement and live music and performed by Dorine and collaborators Kemono L Riot, Kiki Oladapo and Fay Guiffo.
The performance celebrates sisterhood, brotherhood, unpacks growing up with Black hair, explores perceptions of cultural identity both inside the home and out in the world.
It’s a mix of raw emotion, playful rebellion, and celebration. Using movement through Krump, House, and Whacking, melded with live violin, the performance invites you to a journey that’s as complex as it is uplifting.
Image credit: Kat Gollock
More about Dorine Mugisha
Dorine Mugisha is a movement artist, events organiser, and project manager interested in themes around identity, belonging, culture and body image. Born and raised in France, of Tanzanian heritage, she is based in Scotland. She is inspired by an array of cultures having travelled over 30 countries, and speaks four languages; this informs a lot of her work. Her styles are influenced by Street Dance, Traditional African dances and Punking/ Whacking. She founded Whacking Scotland and Body Movement; through these spaces, she hosts and leads: events, workshops, classes, retreats etc… celebrating that there is no one way of being a dancer and encouraging people to feel good in their bodies.
Dorine also has a degree in Law & Sociology, experience working in the youth charity sector for over 10 years and has a IAFPD Primary Certificate in Health and Wellbeing Coaching. Her diverse background reflects a combination of artistic practice, community engagement and strategic thinking.
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Dance Base is a charity with a mission to encourage and celebrate the potential for dance in everyone. We use the power of dance to improve people’s health and wellbeing, and we support professional dance artists at all stages of their careers. We’re grateful for the generous support of out funders and donors.
