DANCE / On Dance

'Have you all been reviewing it out of town so you wouldn't have to go to Brixton? asks Michael Clark suspiciously. No. We went to see it out of town because we couldn't wait to see O, the latest work from a choreographer who was finally getting his act together and making dance that exploited his extraordinary abilities.

O is a game of two halves; the first half danced to an old Public Image number the second to Stravinsky's Apollo. The work opened in Newcastle on 5 May and has been touring (and evolving) ever since.

The Oxford Playhouse had never sold out for a dance performance before. The marketing director was very excited. Everyone's very excited. The reviews have been almost embarrassing: 'O is undoubtedly special; it is an affirmation of faith in the power of dance. . . O is his testament of belief (Jann Parry, The Observer). 'What thrills eye and mind - and heart - is the grace of Clark's movement language. His own performance is superlatively good: noble, carved in light, Apollonian in its formal order. I have in the past hated what Clark has done because it was unworthy of his talents. I salute this beautiful and cogent work of art, which honours its score and its creator/interpreter. This from Clement Crisp of the Financial Times.

Michael Clark (below) sounds almost disappointed to have lost his sternest critic. 'He's always seemed to love hating me. He almost seemed to get excited by how much he hates the work. After O, it rather looks as if all the old Clark-haters will have to get their kicks some other way.

O is at the Brixton Academy 21-25 Jun, 211 Stockwell Park Road, SW9 (071-924 9999) pounds 12.50

(Photograph omitted)