Rachel Elderkin

There are few project-based companies (at least in the UK and outside of the ballet world) that focus on presenting the work of past masters alongside that of emerging choreographers. Yet Yorke Dance Project, now celebrating its twentieth year, has built its reputation by doing just that. Founded by artistic director Yolande Yorke-Edgell in Los Angeles, the company has been based in London since 2009, and this year was nominated for National Dance Award for best independent company.

Once in a while, there comes a work that really moves you. Xenos, the new full-length solo from Akram Khan, may be set within the context of the First World War, but in its emotion and it’s humanity it transcends time and place. That connection with the present holds something truly profound. Xenos marks some of Khan’s last performances as a dancer and for this work he has chosen to draw attention to the colonial soldiers of WWI.

10, the new triple bill by Manchester based Company Chameleon, revisits the first major work by the company alongside two new works choreographed by the company’s founders, Kevin Edward Turner and Anthony Missen. In a style characteristic of Company Chameleon, all three pieces feature athletic, highly physical choreography, and all tackle personal and social themes. Yet for a company celebrating its 10th anniversary year, it is perhaps not the strongest bill of work that could have been presented.