Resolution, The Place, London, review: Ranges from navel-gazing to theatrical flair

The Place’s festival of new dance is the UK’s biggest, with 78 companies appearing over six weeks

'Resolution: the festival for new dance’ Dancer Letitia Wilkins (Chris Nash)

New Year, new year’s Resolution. Now in its 27th year, The Place’s festival of new dance is the UK’s biggest, with 78 companies appearing over six weeks. Perhaps characteristically, this performance ranged from navel-gazing to theatrical flair.

The flair came from #PPL Dance’s Al-Col-Hol, a punchy blend of street dance and people-watching. Dani Harris-Walters’ choreography uses tight, fast footwork and nicely-observed behaviour – it’s funny, but it avoids drunk dance clichés. Instead, characters lose their self-consciousness, or painfully find it again.

A finger wagged in over-emphatic argument becomes a tick-tock beat; insecurities bubble up, so that expansive moves suddenly become pinched. Michael Starke looks like a demonic influence, twisting and prodding; in one sequence, his shadow looms over the other dancers. The show leans too heavily on its framing devices, and has better material for men than women, but it’s a bright, confident work.

The rest of the evening is underpowered. In the aimless When Wishes Shift, Leila Bakhtali and Keren Smail list hopes and dreams while dipping and jumping through contemporary moves. Bravery, by Rambert’s Simone Damberg Würtz, wraps a fine cast in parachute harnesses, an elaborate process that doesn’t deliver strong imagery.

Festival continues until February 19. Box office 020 7121 1100.