Dance Base - National Centre for Dance (venue website) 19-23 Aug, 2:00pm (2:15pm) Reviewed by Susannah Radford

At only 15 minutes long, A New Remembering Esenin can certainly be called brief; but it’s like an interesting taste sensation that intrigues and tantalises, and leaves you wanting more.

A combination of dance, song and a radio interview, underpinned by Nigel Osbourne’s cello composition which is performed live, it presents a slice of work inspired by the Russian poet Sergei Esenin. Songs are sung in Russian by performer Michael Popper himself, in a lovely bass voice.

Popper articulates movement with an athletic beauty. There are images of fear, of supplication, of carrying weight. I don’t have a sense of how it fits all together but it’s the quality of his dancing that lingers; it’s a fleeting glimpse of dance worth watching out for.