Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company: Faultline / Exit No Exit

In it Jeyasingh explores what it is to be young and Asian in Britain today. It begins with a short silent film in which two young Asian men meet; it is fascinating to watch the way they greet each other and express themselves - it reminds the viewer that even the most ordinary and pedestrian of gestures can have the fluidity of dance.

As the piece progresses on stage, three dancers take some of the images from the video and expand on them, translating the simple actions - the smoothing of the clothes and the jerking of the head - into a language of dance.

The piece features music by Scanner and Errollyn Wallen, which is performed by soprano Patricia Rosario on stage. She stands behind the video screen, seemingly haunting the dancers; separate but part of the action her voice adds an eerie and disturbing aspect to things.

Faultline is at its most successful when the three initial dancers are on stage, they move in a mesmerising way, holding each other back and then letting go. While successful in the main the piece suffers from too many ideas and at times looks confused, especially when all the dancers are on the stage. However it is nice to see Jeyasingh tackling issues of identity in such a fresh and exciting way.

The second, older piece Exit No Exit is ultimately the more successful of the two. Utilising a truly beautiful score by Michael Nyman, it explores the space of the stage, the very notion of performance.

Using lines of light to carve up the stage, one dancer in particular becomes isolated and trapped. Other dancers would race on to the stage, pause, and then race off. As this went on the audience became more aware of their part in proceedings - your heart leaps when they appear and sinks when they are gone, and in between there is alaways the expectation of what they are going to do next.

Exit No Exit also features what is perhaps my favourite ending of any piece in recent years, one that again reinforces the idea of a mysterious half-way space capable of trapping the dancers.

This double bill isn't perect but both these two pieces feature genuine flashes of insight and are capable of drawing the audience in, forcing them to confront ideas as diverse as identity, British and Asian history, and the nature of the dance itself. A truly thought provoking evening.

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