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Two artists, Sonia Sabri and Noni Jenkyn-Jones were the dancers at last nights performance, presented at the Solihull Arts Centre, just on the outskirts of Birmingham.

The opening piece, Curve, Gaze, Whip is a duet, which is performed to a spoken score. Said score (recorded) is a couple of lines of Urdu, repeated over and over, to which some electronic effects have been added, such as echo, reverberation and minor distortion. Despite the lack of "proper" music, the score is very rhythmic. The dance is quite dynamic; in a post performance talk Miss Sabri explained that the title has been literally translated into three dance movements. The movements did not fit the score, that is to say, the rhythm of the dance did not seem to relate to the rhythm of the score. Visually the movements were varied and the look of the dance very pleasing.

Much of the subtlety of Kathak is lost on me, but I generally like what I see. Translation is an important part of Kathak. A musical sound, such as the beat of a tabla, can be imitated (translated) into vocal sounds, using a nonsense series of syllables. This technique is very familiar to Western audiences of skat music. Kathak takes the process one step further, imitating the vocalised sound by using dance movements.

Next came Ayam, a solo performed by Miss Jenkyn-Jones. There is a lot of very obvious mime in the opening section. We see a magician performing a series of tricks. Later we see a dance based around some very bold and confident moves. The score (again recorded) is an odd mix of something that sounds like a clarinet, playing over an electronic beat. This beat is very familiar; it is lifted straight from Kraftwerk's Autobahn. Overall I found this piece very repetitive; there is a lot of attitude devant to arabesque. This piece has a lot to do with ego (I am). It also has some reference to the Indian philosophy of Maya, however it does not matter if you know this or not. Simply watch and enjoy the movements.

The final piece Naari is by far the strongest of the three pieces. This is performed to a live score, which is played on tabla, harmonium and a type of hammer dulcimer. This latter instrument has a very romantic tone. The are some vocals (language unknown) and I suspect there are some mellotronics in there too.

The work opens with a very long solo section, performed by Miss Sabri, and refers to the gait of three pretty young women, whom we get to meet as the work unfolds. I am pleased to say that I almost worked this out while I was watching the performance; I identified two different women. We see Miss Sabri clad in the traditional costume (the ankle bells, the trousers with the long flowing dress over and the long draped sash), doing what she does best, dancing in the Kathak style. There is plenty of intricate footwork and very graceful hand gestures, together with the important facial expressions, very fast spins and body sweeps. A Kathak dancer is a narrator, a singer, a mime artist, a dancer and and actor all rolled into one, and we see the lot. For the final few minutes, Miss Jenkyn-Jones reappears and both ladies perform a duet. This is quite unusual in Kathak; generally it is a solo or a cast of thousands.

It is very difficult to describe how this piece fits together. It has a narrative quality, but there is no obvious story. It looks like a series of short slides; a young women meeting perhaps a suitor; two people talking at a party or similar funtion; perhaps a shy young women flirting. The are moments of extreme clarity and other moments when movements just seem to blur together. There is plenty of contrast, some sections are very slow and some so fast, that it is difficult to keep up with it all.

The musical score is quite repetitive, but it is quite tuneful and overall works well. The aforementioned video projections were basically a series of slides, projected onto a screen behind the dancers. They were there for each of the three pieces, and ranged from blurred images of the dancers to geometric patterns. In my opinion, they added nothing to the work and I feel that they could be removed. Luckily they are not distracting, and it is quite easy not to watch them and concentrate on the important bit.

This is a good early night out; the works last an hour. The company are on tour (sorry I don't have dates or venues), but if you notice that they are playing in your area, do try an make an effort to see them. You will probably not be disappointed by what you see (remember this is coming from Trog, who only sees classical ballet). The dancers deserve your bum on a seat.