'Nah mum, I think they're animals, I think humans are animals'

"Standing in front of enclosure 99 at Edinburgh Zoo, we looked in as the animals were stretching and bending together, moving rhythmically about the space. In one corner, a pair patted and poked each other as if testing what they could get away with. They seemed to be playing.

The animals we stared at through the perspex of the enclosure were apes, but not the kind you would usually expect to find at the zoo. These were the human variety.

The humans in question are part of a dance troupe led by choreographer Janis Claxton. As part of Scottish dance organisation Dance Base's program at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the troupe of men and women from Europe, Australia and China were performing a piece called Enclosure 99 Humans. The performance, which debuted at the Fringe festival in 2008 and runs seven hours a day for two weeks no matter the weather, was born of Claxton's fascination with the movements of animals. Her curiosity about ape movement in particular prompted her to study ape gestural communication with primatologist Klaus Zuberbühler of St Andrews University. In Enclosure 99, her troupe's movements and scenarios are inspired by apes they have observed at zoos around the world."
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