EVEN by Lakeside standards this is a surprising show from Transitions Dance Company. Opinions will differ, but Endings, the first of the three pieces might be the best.

According to the programme, Endings "explores the cusp between private and public space", and it's about "uncertainty" and "wonder". It certainly does and even more certainly is.

It only gradually dawns on the audience that proceedings have begun. It's disturbing. Two or three dancers are dotted about the auditorium, in a subtle but menacing way, invading the audience's territory. Then there's much inexplicable coming and going, with new dancers continually entering and exiting. (At one point an audience member left and you were unsure whether it was part of the show).

At the end, in complete contrast, the stage is filled with swirling dancers in white costumes made golden by the lighting - lighting is a key element of the whole evening.

There's no background sound except for the complexity of noises which are there anyway but which would normally go unnoticed.

There's a suggestion of the satyr in …No…No, the closing piece. It's a very pink affair, clearly about sex and sensuality, with more than a nod to homo-eroticism.

The other piece Blind Action is more pleasing. Again, it's strikingly well lit. The dancing is staccato, with a curious metallic quality to match some remarkable background sound. It's a percussion score called Cube, done for tom-toms, hubcaps and metal plates against metre cubes of scaffolding.

Three choreographers; three very different pieces.

Alan Geary