YOUNG lithe bodies fighting passionately for a cause, Earthfall embody the freedom and future of contemporary dance. 

Their latest production Gravitas, in its second running, is a rare outburst against the grain of the usual self-indulgence associated with experimental dance. The low-budget company grasps the opportunity to create a visual critique and satire, without sacrificing quality dance in the process. The result is explosive. 

Directors Jim Ennis and Jessica Cohen’s ability to foresee dance as a medium for reacting to social and global events (which they call “Choreopolitik”) puts this relatively small Cardiff-based company in the same bracket as Matthew Bourne’s revolutionary works with New Adventures.

From the outset Earthfall provoke. A series of flashing images set the scene – Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Obama create a stark backdrop for six dancers to stare soul-searchingly into the audience.

As the dance progresses, performers engage in an on-stage form of street running, rolling, and struggling against each other in an anarchic portrait of protest.

The performance is divided into overlapping segments, accompanied on stage by Frank Naughton and Sion Orgon whose synthesised sounds propel the dance forward, dropping from high-energy climaxes to barely-moving moments of stillness. The dance comprises of a series of rough-and-tumble duets, magnetic group ensembles and gripping solos, interspersed with spoken word and singing, melded seamlessly together to create a montage of modern life in a war-stricken world.

Casual/combat clothing convey a sense of the young hopefuls of today making a stand against the regime, and the repeated motifs dancers being silenced by hands over mouths is at once unsettling and captivating.

Two scenes stick out. The clustered dancers thrusting their bodies to a clubby baseline with contagious gusto is aggressive and brilliant.

Beth Powlesland emerges as a promising dancer and her narrative based on a soldier’s letter home under the threat of impending death is deeply moving.

Gravitas makes much for fresh inspiring contemporary dance. It is a cry out in a world ransacked by terrorism, and its scream is both disquieting and vital.

Gravitias is on tour now across the UK.