Playing Another – Candoco Dance (Tour – Salford)

The extremely talented dance company Candoco which is made up of disabled and non-disabled dancers has allowed two very different choreographers to shape two very different works.

The first is from visual artist Hetain Patel and the second is from choreographer, Thomas Hauert.

Patel's piece, Let's talk about dis is a humorous exploration of the company and dancers within it. At first, one dancer dances and another gives an audio description – curve, right, turn, left, lunge – and then another dancer takes over the role of describer.

Patel also weaves personal stories and sketches into the piece and the dancers swop around interpreting the other members dance movements or languages using two microphone. One dancer Laura speaks in French and is translated by another dancer into English who is in turn translated by another dancer into sign language.

Laura clearly makes an angry point about how people react to her and relates how a child came up to her and grabbed her arm stump. Even without knowledge of French her actions make it clear, but Toke, clearly embarrassed translates it as the difference in heights between the dancers and his love of hummus.

If it had been better written – the idea would have been great, instead it is mildly entertaining without too much impact. Patel's piece is cleverly experiments with ideas of identity, and thereby introduces the dancer's characters by exaggerating their personalities.

The tone changes considerably in the second part and all this character is sadly lost. Thomas Hauert bases his piece Notturnino on the documentary Tosca's kiss, for reasons that never really become clear. The soundtrack of the documentary, which is about an Italian care home for retired opera singers, plays in the background with just the subtitles on screen.

The only direct connection between the dancers and the film could be the elaborate dresses and costumes that imitate those of an opera production. There are some beautiful moments such as when dancer Tanja Erhart stands on her one leg surrounded by the legs of all the other dancers who support her as she moves like a swaying forest.

Generally though, the movements and partnerships become repetitive and it is only the question of who will be wearing the bear costume next which really grabs your attention by the end.

Candoco is at the Lowry until tonight (3 December).