IN bygone epochs of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, dance performances could be dubious. Hemmed by cramped converted spaces and rapid turnarounds, it was vexatious to have to jump out of our improvised hutches into full physical articulation. Audiences could witness dancers’ discomfort in the glaze of an eye, a botched balance, a fumbled bit of partnering and so on. There was a sense of “getting away with it.”

The game changed when Dance Base’s premises opened on The Grassmarket. The complex is purpose-built to function year-round as Scotland’s national centre for dance. In this spacious airy building, Fringe shows are lately given by performers who will have shaken a leg beforehand in designated studio space. Whatever ensues will stem from the concentration and engagement of properly fostered agility.

There’s further upgrade in the sense of informed choices. Dance Base’s artistic director Tony Mills, himself a dancer/choreographer of note, is the selector of this year’s offering. In this he follows Morag Deyes OBE, founder of the premises (built by Malcolm Fraser Architects, for its year 2000 inauguration) and devisor of procedures that inform Fringe participation of visiting troupes from as far away as Australia, Korea and Taiwan, cheek by jowl with accomplished locals.