Move your way over to Edinburgh's Southside because this year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, some of the very best dance and physical theatre shows take place outside the city centre. Pleasance, Summerhall and ZOO all have a packed programme of dancers and performance artists from around the world ready to mesmerise and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Pleasance

Elements of Freestyle
ISH Dance Collective
In this adrenaline-fuelled explosion of extreme urban sports, dance, music and theatre, the Netherlands' ISH Dance Collective, create breathtaking poetry with every single moment. Elements of Freestyle is about those redeeming seconds that make a complicated trick ultimately succeed; about the freestylers' total focus on the moment, the ecstasy and the feeling of complete and total freedom.
Elements of Freestyle, Pleasance at EICC – Lennox Theatre, Sat 3–Sun 25 Aug (not 7, 12, 21), 4pm, £14–£17.50 (£10–£14).

Havana After Dark
Danza Cuba
Ballet by day, salsa by night. The world premiere of a breathtaking new Cuban dance musical. Starring the incredible singer Luna Manzanares, a sensational seven-piece live salsa band, Havana's top female DJ, and gorgeous star dancers from Carlos Acosta's company, Ballet Nacional de Cuba and Ballet Revolucion. Discover the secrets of the world's most sensual city as night falls.
Havana After Dark, Pleasance at EICC – Lennox Theatre, Mon 5–Sun 25 Aug (not 21), 9pm, £15–£17.50 (£12–£14.50).

FrontX

Summerhall

FrontX
Cie No Way Back / Milan Emmanuel
FrontX shows a range of international street artists who combine exceptional energy and resilience. Their fascinating personal life stories are the main theme of the show. As spokespersons of our contemporary society, these performers embody the true sense of integration.
FrontX, Summerhall – Demonstration Room, Fri 2–Sat 24 Aug (not 7, 12, 14, 21), 3pm, £9 (£7). Previews Wed 31 Jul, £5 & Thu 1 Aug , £8.

The Afflicted
Groupwork
Inspired by real events, this new dance-theatre piece tells the story of a mysterious illness that infects a group of young women in small-town America. As the girls and their families search for a diagnosis for their strange affliction, they come face to face with their personal and collective demons.
The Afflicted, Summerhall – Demonstration Room, Sat 3–Sun 25 Aug (not 12), 7.30pm, £14 (£10). Previews Wed 31 Jul, £5 & Fri 2 Aug, £8.

Ali and Alpo
Alpo Aaltokoski Company in association with From Start to Finnish
A beautiful wordless dialogue between Iraqi traditional music and Finnish contemporary dance by oud lute virtuoso Ali Alawad and choreographer Alpo Aaltokoski. The piece touchingly brings out the human experience and the consequences of increasingly restrictive asylum policies.
Ali and Alpo, Summerhall – Old Lab, Tue 6–Sun 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 1.05pm, £10 (£8). Preview Tue 6 & Wed 7 Aug, £8.

Out / credit: Marcus Hessenberg

Out
Rachael Young
Performed with marikiscrycrycry, originally created/performed with Dwayne Antony, Out is about shapeshifting in a bid to fit in. Challenging homophobia and transphobia within our communities, it's a conversation between two bodies; a live art/dance performance, reclaiming dancehall and celebrating queerness amongst the bittersweet scent of oranges. Supported by the Eclipse Award.
Out, Summerhall – Old Lab, Thu 15–Sun 25 Aug (not 19), 3.45pm, £12 (£8). Previews Tue 13 & Wed 14 Aug, £8.

The Populars
Volcano Theatre
A fun, young, provocative foursome raises the heat on the dance floor. They are looking to the future and wondering how it will feel when we get there. They have questions for you, things on their minds and a playlist of great songs that tug at the memory and the muscle fibres.
The Populars, Summerhall – The Library Gallery, Sat 3–Sun 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.20pm, £12 (£8). Previews Wed 31 Jul & Fri 2 Aug, £5.

ZOO

Raiders of the Grey Gold
Don Gnu – Physical Theatre and Film
In a battle against time, the Danish theatre company Don Gnu throw themselves into a physical and blazing acrobatic quest for the grey gold and to find the beauty in the decay of time. Daredevil antics, musical poetry and humorous self-realisation is the foundation of this tragicomical struggle against bittersweet old age.
Raiders of the Grey Gold, ZOO Southside, Sun 4–Sat 10 Aug, 7pm, £13 (£12).

Raiders of the Grey Gold

Not Today's Yesterday
Seeta Patel and Lina Limosani
An international collaboration between UK award-winning Bharatanatyam artist Seeta Patel and Australian choreographer Lina Limosani. This work blends techniques from Bharatanatyam, contemporary dance and theatre to create a poetic narrative that has the beauty and disquiet of a Grimm's fairytale. It is a one-woman show which subversively co-opts whitewashing against itself.
Not Today's Yesterday, ZOO Southside, Mon 19–Sat 24 Aug, 3.40pm, £14 (£12).

Ritualia
Scottish Dance Theatre
An ensemble of other-beings vogue through a wedding ceremony, donning queer wigs in a visual feast of wearable art and lush lighting set to Stravinsky's original modernist score. As we reach the climax and witness the vows, society's pre-assigned roles are shed in an androgynous gender utopia created by internationally celebrated choreographer Colette Sadler.
Ritualia, ZOO Southside, Mon 19–Sat 24 Aug, 9pm, £14 (£12).

Looping: Scotland Overdub
Scottish Dance Theatre
A late-night dance, party and politics experience where everyone is welcome. Led by a full company of dancers and embracing the collective spirit of ceilidh dancing and Brazilian street festival vibes, Looping is an immersive performance-party with a distinctively Scottish edge. It celebrates individual freedom and the collective right of revolution through words by acclaimed writer Kieran Hurley and set to a fresh electronic dance score mixed live by Torben Lars Sylvest.
Looping: Scotland Overdub, ZOO Southside, Mon 19–Sat 24 Aug, 10.30pm, £12–£14 (£10–£12).

Lovely Girls
The Hiccup Project
Chess and Cristina are multi award-winning duo, The Hiccup Project, often introduced as 'the lovely hiccup girls'. At first, they didn't react, because women are supposed to be lovely. But then they started to wonder what else they could be. Using their powerful blend of dance, theatre and comedy, they delve into the ridiculous and limiting contradictions and clichés of being a woman today.
Lovely Girls, ZOO Southside, Mon 5–Sat 17 Aug (not 7, 12), 8.50pm, £14 (£12). Previews Fri 2–Sun 4 Aug, £10.