A Corpo Libero / The Woman Who Wants To Be Funny @ Dance Base

Italian ''lady of a certain age'' Sylvia Gribaudi must be one of the most unlikely sex goddesses you will see at the Fringe this year. A single spotlight picks her out in the darkness, then follows her around. Wearing a short garish dress which she attempts to stretch over her rear (only for it to spring back up) she is the drunken aunt at a wedding, reluctant to dance, initially anyway. Hot flushes have her fanning herself with the dress, until the spotlight expands- and so too does her act. Iggy Pop's Passenger impels her into a running man dance,before she flirts with a bump 'n' grind parody.

As for her outrageous grand finale - I was not aware arias could accompany such shaking - the hated term "bingo wings'' will hold an artistic resonance now: A Corpo Libero is a unique antidote to the omnipresent youth glamour market, and Gribaudi is hilarious, self- aware, and all-woman. The appeal of The Woman... lies in the charm of the two collaborators who comprise Curious Seed, Christine Deaveny and Luke Sutherland, who fuse autobiography with live music and dance. The elfin Deaveny grew up with three brothers, all of whom are funny - and craved possessing their wit, but instead became a dancer.

As tall, handsome but deadpan Sutherland whips up a small storm on the electronic violin, which he loops with his own vocals to startling effect, Deaveny dances elegantly and playfully, interspersing her glides and hip shakes with half-finished punchlines and clowning, alluding to Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. This is juxtaposed with a poignant speech on how fleeting life is and how we must live it without fear or compromise. Teasingly, jokes are never told in their entirety, but an hour in the company of Curious Seed is a delight- their double act effortless and easygoing.