F-B-F.org -

I still marvel at the way these performers have learned to launch themselves from each other’s necks and knees and cradled palms apparently without gouging flesh. Dancers can work with all manner of handicaps, but kitten heels have to be the cruellest.Rambert is another company for which discipline boundaries melt away. It’s years since they danced anything so classical as Hans Van Manen’s Vision Fugitives – made in 1990 for Nederlands Dans Theater, a more classical company – yet they have duly chiselled their bodies into its academic shapes and the result, premiered in a triple bill in Woking, is as cleanly powered as if they’d been born with their feet in fifth position. The title refers to Prokofiev’s score with its 15 fleeting visions of nothing in particular. It’s a major challenge to a choreographer to make maximum impact from such minimal material. Van Manen succeeds by paring everything to its formal essentials, even while introducing quirky twists.In one ensemble the six dancers bowl on like skittles in an alley, and exit in a Flanagan and Allan walk.

A duet treats the pair like skating partners, the girl dragged in sleek arcs behind her man. I was particularly struck by the delicate grace of Paul Liburd whose big-chested physique accommodates the most beauteous line. But I remain unconvinced by Van Manen’s closing number, a stylised murder by strangulation. Prokofiev’s music does indeed tighten into a Hitchcock tremolando, but Van Manen’s choice of image seemed too dark and too nasty.j.gilbert independent.co.ukVincent Dance Theatre: Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield (0114 249 6000), 6 & 7 June Rambert: Clwyd Theatr, Mold (0845 330 3565), Wed to Sat. Stoke-on-Trent (as the area is more formally known) may not be renowned for its beauty, but it is home to a creative powerhouse fuelled by a rich local seam of artistic talent.

What is it?
An interactive celebration of the ceramics industry in its heartland, the Potteries. Originally planned for the millennium, the £4m project finally opens this Saturday in the Victorian splendour of the old town hall of Burslem, once the Potteries’ mother town. A hi-tech shop has been built adjacent to the hall, on the site of Wedgwood’s original Ivy House Works. The focus on Burslem is tight: the potters featured are all based in the town, from old favourites such as Royal Doulton to newcomers such as Moorcroft.Ceramica is divided in two. Downstairs is Bizarreland (a nod to the work of the Potteries’ famous daughter, Clarice Cliff), an interactive zone dedicated to children, although adults will enjoy it too. Upstairs are the Pavilions; a sequence of stands devoted to the different potteries, each with its own inventive interactive and audio-visual display. But no Potteries museum would be complete without a reference to the area’s most famous son – no, not Robbie Williams, Arnold Bennett, author of Anna of the Five Towns.