Declarations

Celebrating their 30th year this month, Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a mixed-repertory programme spanning that history, and confirming their place among the uppermost in the ranks of medium-sized contemporary companies.

Declarations is aptly named; each piece is a vivid, distinct proposition. The evening opens with The Audacious One, choreographed by Warren Adams. Based on Barack Obama's career-defining speech 'The Audacity of Hope', the piece is centred on power and the world of backroom political wrangling.

Dancing to powerful excerpts from Mozart's Requiem, the sharply-dressed suits, each sporting either a red or blue tie exude a spirit of tribalistic politics masked by a civilised veneer. Their manouevres are exciting, graceful and forceful. Each performer slips in and out of powerful movements in unison, dancing with a partner employing crisp, masculine vigour, then breaking off into frantic, schizophrenic reverie. The overall effect is stunningly dynamic. The intensity peaks as the company collude at a luminous debating table (wonderfully designed by Michael Mannion) with voting cards in their respective party colours, the culmination of a political dance of bureaucratic will. Glenn Graham and Phil Sanger shine in this psychosocial blur of beauty and technical strength.

Haunted Passages is a piece from Phoenix's classic repertoire, first performed in 1989. Over twenty years later Philip Taylor has returned to choreograph this sombre piece, imbuing it with fresh relevance and spirit.

Benjamin Britten's affecting Lachrymae, based on a theme from a lullaby, evokes an unsettling, distant and sleepy ominousness. Angular, swift and dynamic, yet sweeping and graceful, the dimly-lit trio perform emotional and beguiling steps. Again, Sanger is particularly striking.

The two other pieces are less emotionally involved, but both are interesting and well-performed footnotes, and interesting as thought experiments. Locked In Vertical is an inventive, attractive stylistic work based on the simple dictum of the title. Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe, explores how sound impacts on individual and group movement, as the dancers react to their own sound through a microphone. There is a slightly smug tone to Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe, but the quality of dancing throughout, and the company's unrelenting verve is fantastic to watch.

Phoenix has much to declare, and continues to rise in reputation. It's clear the choreographers appreciate working with such highly trained, committed dancers, and this shows in the dynamic, brilliant work they continue to produce.