CandoCo is a company of disabled and able-bodied dancers who worked with great skill last Wednesday night to bring to life two very different and striking pieces of dance.

The first was The Stepfather, a dark and macabre tale of adultery, incest, murder and suicide, which, unnervingly, was accompanied by chirpy country music. Country is a genre that thrives on storytelling and this quality inspired the production, with dancers acting to the words of the twangy songs.

At the beginning the stepfather kills his stepdaughter and then hangs himself. Then the scene rewinds and the audience is drawn into the country town world to discover why. They see his wife lustfully and enthusiastically cheating on him, his sexual flirtation with his young stepdaughter and the anger and scorn of his wife and family who witness it. In one memorable and clever scene the stepfather (played by Jorge M.Crecis) has a twin - an alter-ego or even his dead self (played by Marc Brew) -and the two are dressed alike. They dance playfully together, sometimes in synchrony, other times in conflict. Brew appeared not to have use of his legs and was often lifted up by Crecis, or the two balanced harmoniously against each other. The scene was comic in places, as well as beautiful and moving.

Though it was not overly graphic the incest aspect of the piece made it overwhelmingly uncomfortable. But the most disturbing part of the production was the final scene. The stepfather has hung himself and is played by Brew who hangs limp from the ceiling, dead but alive. The stepdaughter, her once colourful dress is now dark and torn, plays with him swinging him from side to side.

It seems choreographer Arthur Pita (who was inspired by the Violent Femmes' Country Death Song) has found creative ways to maximise the scope of movement for the non-able bodied Brew while utilising his inability to move his legs for an effective portrayal of a dead man and earlier on, a puppet-like twin.

In their second piece And Who Shall Go To The Ball, choreographed by Rafael Bonachela, the CandoCo dancers appear to be fighting to discordant sound, with a bare, industrial backdrop.Their movements were sharp and mechanical, and often there was so much action it was hard to know where to look. The piece was set to new music by Scott Walker, and unlike their first effort, there was no discernible storyline. Brew's wheelchair was incorporated into the action. Various dancers balanced themselves in interesting shapes on top of Brew while propelling the wheelchair across the stage.

Neither piece made for comfortable viewing, but I'm guessing the aim of CanDoCo was exactly that - to challenge us by taking us out of our comfort zone.