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A complex range of compliant and aggressive behaviour is performed, from the marking of territory through the rolling/sliding transfer of body scents to the dogs’ management of two carcasses that concludes the first half. Repetitive sequences of each dancer’s motif-bearing choreography flow randomly through the work, allowing each animal’s position within the pack hierarchy to be registered and re-emphasised. Through all of this the over-bearing dominance of Devaraj Thimmaiah is palpable, contrasting with the coltish explorations of control by Graham Adey’s younger dog. The five women dancers also appeared to be exercising hierachical expressions of their respective roles within the pack in their overlapping sequences of solos, duets and trios and, although it may have been entirely frivolous thinking on my part, this seemed to reflect in some way their longevity as dancers within the Tavaziva ensemble. Thus, the senior dancer, Anna Watkins, appeared as the dominant bitch (sorry!), challenged by the emerging, predatory maturity of Martina Bussi and the powerful physicality of Kristina Alleyne, whilst the company’s two apprentice dancers, Katie Cambridge and Jade Yung always seemed to be on the edge of the pack, the most vulnerable and submissive of the group.

As a choreographer, Tavaziva is an inspirational conjuror of expressive movement but I wish he had retained the purity of his Zimbabwean influences for ‘Wild Dog’ instead of allowing the metaphor of contemporary urban wildness on UK streets to infiltrate the African Plain: when the piebald-costumed performers began to utilise human mannerisms and actions (beckoning with a finger, shaking hands) the momentum of the work slowed and its rationale became confused. We have plentiful human wildness on our streets and the destructive corrupting greed of urban gangs is a theme that several contemporary choreographers have utilised. But none could do the same justice to a work about a pack of cape hunting dogs as Tavaziva and his crew; his choreography and musical arrangement – including the multilingual voiceovers of three of his dancers – captured the imagery of animal instinct, ritual and survival in a wholly unique and visceral tapestry. It was, to my mind, only (slightly) spoiled through the unnecessary desire for this linking reference to human behaviour.

As a postscript, it is worth recording that ’Wild Dog’ was prefaced by two brief performances by schoolchildren as an output from the 2nd year of Dance for All, the Westminster Community Dance Project: first up were 16 students from the Grey Coat School in ’Where Are We?, choreographed by Bussi and Alleyne; followed by an 11 all-girl ensemble from St Marylebone School, whose ’Galloping Dogs’ (by Adey and Yung) gave a brief foretaste of the movement to come. Both performances gave an insight into a very worthwhile project that epitomises the other side of Tavaziva life.