Phoenix Dance Theatre
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Leeds/Touring
3 stars

PHOENIX DANCE THEATRE’S mixed programmes are usually dominated by one stand-out work but this year there’s a difference. While each of the the four pieces are reliably entertaining, none are truly memorable.

The programme opens with Christopher Bruce’s Shift, a mechanical and briskly danced piece that’s set within the latticed projection of a factory window.

An exploration of how time dictates working life, the six dancers are dressed in 1940s costume as they replicate each another’s movements like a production line in time to Kenji Bunch’s metronomically ticking score.

The mood alters dramatically in Bruce’s companion piece, the intimate and deeply poignant Shadows.

Depicting the fears and turmoil of a displaced family, there’s tenderness in the solo and group dancing as they seek to comfort one another. Framed within Arvo Part’s Fratres, the vastness of Europe’s troubled 20th century is contrasted with the insularity of the family environment.

While the narrative in Shadows is easy to define TearFall, choreographed by artistic director Sharon Watson, feels disjointed and is occasionally confusing at times.

Her exploration of the biochemical composition of tears opens promisingly, with Prentice Whitlow’s bite-sized lecture on the subject, and continues with the eight dancers moving in a synchronised chain of cells.

It loses focus when the ensemble separates to examine the function and perception of tears. Staged under Yaron Abulafia’s tear-shaped lighting and silvery balloons, the fluid and slick choreography is impressive but the overall piece fails to move.

There’s a similar problem with the premiere of Caroline Finn’s quirky, humorous Bloom.

A study of physical and emotional facades, its parade of surreal characters seems to be influenced by 1920s cabaret yet it fails to entirely convince, as this programme does overall.

Tours until May 7, details: phoenixdancetheatre.co.uk