FLOAT Set To Bring Sensory Friendly Performance To Edinburgh Fringe
Starcatchers' immersive production is conceived by Kerry Cleland, with design by Alison Brown.
Designed especially for babies from birth to 12 months old and their grown ups, Float is inspired by the healing properties of water, taking place across three hours. Inviting the audience to relax in a safe and tactile world, babies can journey through 5 interactive stages - Drip, Dook, Silver, Ocean Club and Waves, which repeat multiple times in the show.
Filled with music, movement, and visual interest, babies and their adults are supported by performers Maddie Broad, Kerry Cleland, Rachel Laird and Shiori Usui to relax into the soft and immersive world, which has been created by designer Alison Brown, lighting designer Emma Jones, and sound designer Kim Moore.
Tickets will allow audiences to come and go as they want across the three hours, allowing audiences to arrive late, leave early, or take a wee moment in-between. The performers have a wealth of experience in working with babies and young audiences, and adults will be gently encouraged to support and follow their baby to share the experience and exploration of the space.
Float was developed through extensive workshops and sharings with babies and their adults in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, and in the city's Fruitmarket Gallery. Initial development of Float was supported by Dance Base. The performance is conceived and directed by Kerry Cleland and created by Starcatchers, Scotland's Arts and Early Years organisation, who focus on making work with and for the birth - 5 age group, producing work on the terms of their audiences.
Kerry Cleland said: 'The making of Float was inspired by my own journey into parenthood, the vastness, the chaos, and how moments being in or beside water helped me find a sense of calm and connection back to myself. Float journeys through different moments with water from the simplicity of a single drip, the calming sounds of the ocean waves, to the sparkling sunlight dancing on the surface of the ocean.
I wanted to make a space where babies and their caregivers are allowed to slow down, to rest, to be free, and connect with water in a safe, warm, and playful environment. When the world around is slowed down, adults are invited to rest, and babies are invited to be heard.'
Float is part of the Made in Scotland showcase 2026.
Performance will take place August 9-22 at Pleasance at EICC, Cromdale Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at the Pleasance website.
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