After a thrilling comeback last year, the Phoenix dancers return.

PHOENIX by name, Phoenix by nature, the renaissance of Phoenix Dance Theatre grows apace.

Next week artistic director Darshan Singh Bhuller returns to York Theatre Royal where the Leeds company's comeback show last year made for a thrilling second coming. "It was very successful in York, I seem to remember, and I couldn't have asked for a better re-launch if I had written the script myself," he says.

"Audiences have been up, feedback has been excellent and I'm very happy with the progress we've made. We've picked some very good dancers and hopefully they will get stronger - I know they will."

In a spring season bill entitled 04, Phoenix is premiering three new works: Rui Horta's new commission for the company, plus pieces by Jerwood Choreography Award winners Maresa von Stockert and Henri Oguike, complemented by Darshan's reworking of a duet from his previous work, Source.

Source 2 will feature projected images of two dancers (and will include approximately four minutes of full nudity by the way).

"This work is a redevelopment of Source, which was originally done for eight or nine dancers but always had a central section with photos and a duet, which I've now developed, and I may continue developing the duet endlessly, taking that idea of artists forever doing self portraits or changing an image," says Darshan.

How did he choose the three guest choreographers for 04? "You get recommendations but it's best to see their work for yourself and then it's a question of whether I like it, how would it fit in with our work and how would it fit into the evening's programme?" he says.

"I'd seen Rui Horta's work throughout the 1990s and I'd always taken something from that experience. He was more than happy to take up our invitation, and one of the fun things has been to send half the company down to his studio in Portugal, about an hour from Lisbon.

"They spent nearly a month down there, four of them, and he has this old monastery on the top of a hill, which has been converted to an arts centre and dance studio, where his company is resident. He puts up dancers and guests there, and it was a wonderful cultural exchange for our dancers. They loved every minute of the experience."

What did Rui think of the Phoenix dancers?

"He loved our dancers and couldn't speak more highly of them, saying they were so open to ideas - and it's very gratifying to have produced dancers that can go into a studio with open minds," says Darshan. "They've produced a work that's larger than we asked for, but that's fine!"

Phoenix Dance Theatre, 04, York Theatre Royal, March 8-10, 7.30pm. Tickets: £6.50 to £17 on 01904 623568.

Updated: 15:31 Thursday, March 04, 2004