YOU may have noted the proliferation of Strictly spin-offs at the Grand Opera House and York Barbican as dance becomes an ever hotter ticket.

York Theatre Royal, meanwhile, is steadily expanding its dance programme, adding first the Rosie Kay Dance Company, and then Matthew Bourne's new mid-scale touring portfolio, to complement the two established regulars, Leeds company Phoenix Dance Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

BRB popped over to the Grand Opera House in the year when the Theatre Royal was being refurbished but renewed the well established link once the work was complete, with the added bonus of the Theatre Royal's notorious raked stage having bade farewell.

Welcome news for the dancers, no longer having to worry over putting the brakes on, and the benefits of a flat surface most especially were seen in the intricate ensemble finale to the centrepiece of last Friday and Saturday's triple bill, as the 14 dancers revelled in the precision, complexity and sensuality of Hans van Manen's 5 Tangos with its combination of ballet classicism and yet still the rebellious heat of the Argentinean tango. Jean-Paul Vroom's black and red costume designs and Johnny Westall-Eyre's lighting made the maximum of less is more.

Colour burst out of the two very British works on either side. Kenneth MacMillan's Solitaire dates from 1956 and was staged with a reverence that rendered it delightfully demure, while John Cranko's Pineapple Poll was a deliciously daft tribute to G & S, as Pompey girl after girl swooned for the dashing Captain Belaye.