But this is distinctive movement, boldly danced.Rui Horta’s Can You See Me is an attention-seeking piece based on Jimi Hendrix songs. Tiia Ourila swaggers forwards, pulling at shirt and waistband Errol White takes off his socks Yann Seabra and Lisa Welham dance an embarrassed duet He kneels, she sits hugging her knees. There’s a nice moment when they fidget in unison, then it’s back to pointless activity. Phoenix dancers spent a month working with Horta in Portugal, and they disorder their clothing with force and conviction.Bhuller’s Source 2 starts with the rattle of rainmakers and goes on to yoga balances. It’s a stretchy duet for Seabra and Welham, all arching backs and juicy recoils.

A Gyorgy Kurtag quartet plays while a screen shows Anthony Crickmay’s photographs. A final contented embrace comes as a surprise: this is too meditative to be a romantic number, though both dancers are discreetly naked for the last section. Bhuller’s serene detachment lacks intensity, but the piece is warmly danced.Maresa von Stockert’s polystrene dreams concerns oppression and daydreams in a toy factory. A portentous snatch of Also Sprach Zarathustra introduces a bossy management voiceover insisting that the toys mustn’t be too hardwearing. The production line starts to daydream, drifting from the tables into dances, but keeps being called back to its toy cars and baby dolls.polystyrene dreams needs tightening.

There are nice details: couples waltzing in their office swivel chairs, a recalcitrant worker folded up and packed in bubble wrap. But the production line repeats need snappier rhythm; the voice- over’s jokes could be much drier. Still, the dancers have fun with von Stockert’s props and ideas, cutting between robotic precision and the drifting movements of the daydreams. Northern Ballet Theatre touring to 19 June ( ); Phoenix Dance touring to 29 May ( ). They could point out that immigrants pay £2.5 billion a year more in tax than they cost in health and education.