George Piper Dances: The boyz are back in town

If you haven't heard of George Piper Dances yet, says Jenny Gilbert, where have you been?

There's cheek, and there's brazen cheek. And giving your latest programme the title Critics' Choice ***** is about as brazen as it gets. But then ex-Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt have been trading on their brand of raffish irreverence ever since charming their way on to Channel 4 as the Ballet Boyz in 1999. In two series of video diaries, they did for the grand jeté what Jamie Oliver did for salsa verde. They de-mystified the workings of classical dance by giving it a human face in need of a shave, and they gave a cheerful two-finger salute to any lingering suspicion about men in tights.

Combat trousers have been the stagewear of choice since their company George Piper Dances has been on the road, and it's now 18 months since Mike (35) and Billy (33) launched their bid to take challenging modern ballet to the provinces. No one believed they'd succeed, but then, no one quite knew what steely discipline lay behind those matey grins. When I meet them at their rehearsal studio near London Bridge mid-morning, both are baggy-eyed from a late night after launching their present tour. Nevertheless, "class" – the daily classical workout they insist on for their company of five – is as rigorous as ever. Never mind that the studio isn't equipped with a barre. The dancers, Mike and Billy included, use the windowsills and radiators, with Billy calling out the moves between increasingly noisy breaths.

"It may sound naff," he says later, "but leading by example is essential. If Michael and I don't slack, then the rest of the company won't either. I've seen too many classical dancers go off to do other stuff and lose the edge on their classical technique. It's really important for us to keep that edge – it's how we've kept the standard of our shows so high."

That polish is also a vital counter-balance to GPD's maverick presentation style, which weaves casual-looking video diary clips between the live performance. "Hi," a windblown Michael Nunn might say, filmed outside the very theatre you are in. "It's 10.30am and I've just arrived in Milton Keynes. We're about to rehearse so I'd better hurry and have a shave." Hastily edited video of rehearsal (including bits that go wrong and dancers skulking around applying plasters to their feet) offer audiences at each new venue an unguarded glimpse of what really goes into the work.

"It's our way of breaking down the barrier between the audience and what can seem like a bunch of rather forbidding people," says Nunn. "People wonder, are they just like us? Or do they sit in a darkened room eating lentils in the lotus position? It would be terrible if every company blew all their secrets. But it gives people a way in." And finding new ways in – "access" in the industry jargon – has been the dominant theme of Nunn and Trevitt's partnership ever since they left the Royal Ballet. While they refuse to compromise their choice of material (work by William Forsythe and Russell Maliphant could never be called easy-watching), they are happy to adapt their personal skills to any audience or situation. Last summer saw them chivvying teenage boys on an estate in south London. Later this year they will front a new dance series for Channel 4. Recently they've been working with over-65s, and plan to bus them all to their Critics' Choice ***** show at the South Bank.

Typically the five stars of the title are more than just chutzpah, though there is more than a touch of bravura in taking on the Queen Elizabeth Hall for five nights. It is, literally, a five-star evening, with world premieres by five of Britain's most sought-after dance makers: Matthew Bourne, Michael Clark, Christopher Wheeldon, Russell Maliphant and Akram Khan – the last making his first-ever piece for classically-trained dancers.

"The idea came from Desert Island Discs," explains Nunn, "... we'd ask all these choreographers to do a piece for us based on their own history, using music they'd always wanted to use, and then we'd interview them." Each was asked to limit himself to roughly five minutes of choreography, and then another five minutes of film. Each was given the same choice of dancers and the same facilities, to see how differently they handled it, and the results promise to be both distinctive and revealing. For one, the film is a document on how the dance was made. For another, the film becomes the set, still another piece uses film in its construction. And in each case, according to the pair pointing the cameras, "the choreographers come across as so warm and genuine. They know what they're talking about and we see what makes them tick."

Inevitably, finding and pinning down five major creative talents at once was tricky. There were moments when the project looked like being called Critics' Choice ****, or even **. "It has been a bit like organising an entire dance season in one night," admits Nunn. "These are creative artists, unpredictable, and very much in demand elsewhere. But no, in case you're wondering, Michael Clarke hasn't been the most difficult person. We've got on really well. We'd been after him for nearly two years actually, so he's a special catch." After 18 months of good houses and great reviews, Nunn and Trevitt have triumphantly disproved the gloom-merchants who initially gave them six. "It's becoming slightly easier," says one. "Yeah, we seem to be able to do what we want," supplies the other. "Yet people still say to us, no, you can't do this or that because it costs too much money. We try to explain that we shoot the film, we edit it, we're the dancers, and the directors as well. But they seem to find that hard to believe. I don't know why."

'Critics' Choice *****' and 'Torsion': Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1 (020 7960 4242), 25 to 29 March; The Lowry, Manchester (0161 876 2000), 2 & 3 April; Richmond Theatre (020 8940 0088), 7 April; South Hill Park Arts Centre (01344 484123), 1 May; tour continues to 26 June