Since its earliest days, opera has always had an element of dance.

But the economics of the lyric stage have gradually driven dance on to the fringes of the action or exterminated it altogether.

So it comes as a shock to encounter a production that puts dance in the driving seat. This one opened last week at the Edinburgh Festival, co-directed, designed and choreographed by the dancer Emio Greco and the director Pieter C Scholten.

Neither has apparently directed an opera before. It shows. Even before the overture starts, there is a silent ballet, characterised by odd tics and jerks: the eight dancers appear to be convulsed by supernatural forces greater than themselves.

The three singers are, in effect, puppets through whom the dancers' bodies "speak".

It is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Gluck certainly considered opera a collaborative art, as Wagner was to do a century later. What grates is the near-total detachment of the dancing from the music itself.

So the work's inner life is virtually unintelligible.

The chorus, in heavy white coats and black unisex wigs, moves only at a snail's pace and the principals are allowed very little physical emotion.

Henk Danner's lighting marks the scenes, but does little to differentiate the Underworld from Elysium.

Nicholas Kok works wonders with an orchestra using modern instruments to play in more or less authentic style.

He dallies through the first act, but thereafter finds a steady momentum. The playing is consistently crisp and agile.

So, too, is the singing. The Canadian countertenor Daniel Taylor copes fearlessly with the upper ranges of Orpheus, despite the long blonde hair flowing off his head and sleeve.

Even fans of Ferrier will not be disappointed by his fluency, though he is forced to remain aloof, even at the close.

Isabel Monar makes a firm, passionate Euridice: her pain is tangible. Claire Ormshaw both sings and dances Amore with frisky conviction. Occasional glimpses of the dancers in full flow, looking properly balletic, only serve to heighten the frustration at so much of the twitching they are allotted. Go for the music, by all means, but be ready to switch off the dance.

Updated: 11:08 Friday, September 10, 2004