David Bellan is impressed by the quality of the pieces at the Pegasus

In the new shorter duration of Dancin’ Oxford, events have been coming thick and fast, and the Pegasus has been humming with activity.

Following the successful Moving with the Times, reviewed last week, came an evening of two works by Jo Lott and a piece by Ieva Kuniskis. Lott says she is influenced by ‘machine man’ films like Robocop, contrasted with pagan stories of nature-loving Green Man.

Lott is also a film-maker, and there are backdrops of attractively empty fields leading to the sea, as the four dancers hurtle through a host of experiences.

Women’s Tales by Ieva Kuniskis has a pleasing East European folk feel to it, with four women dancing out moments from their own lives, in choreography that effectively shows us their inner feelings. Tender, again by Lott, is a lovely trio for two girls and a man.

Bawren Tavaziva is celebrating the tenth anniversary of his company with Tavaziva Ten, a compilation and reduction of ten pieces that represent his work.

It’s a ‘tasting menu’ of great deliciousness. Tavaziva’s blend of African and contemporary dance is beguiling, exciting, and often sexy, and his eight dancers are highly individual and charismatic.

This is a technically talented group who sail or stomp or glide through the various pieces, which range from a portrait of his sister who died from Aids, to the pure elation of African dance. Wild Dog beautifully captures the essence of an African animal threatened with extinction, My Friend Robert is a searing indictment of a hero turned monster — Robert Mugabe, while Sinful Intimacies looks at gay love — a subject never spoken about in Tavaziva’s homeland. That’s only half the programme, and it looks like serious stuff, but the overall feeling is of having watched an evening of exuberant, intimate dance.

On Monday we had CandoCo, the company that combines disabled and non-disabled professional dancers. Two men performed Javier de Frutos’ Two for C. Dressed in spooky Mexican wrestling-masks, and white suits covered in slogans such as ‘better to die on your feet than live on your knees,’ they danced out an intense close encounter in the form of a power struggle.

De Frutos is an acclaimed choreographer, and this is a terrific piece. Until the end it was impossible to see whether either of these fine dancers was disabled. They had also worked with the local inclusive charity The Parasol Project, whose members put on a fine show, as did the rest of the groups taking part in this enjoyable mixed evening.