FOR (disappointingly) one night only, Phoenix Dance Theatre pops up the A64 on Wednesday for York’s first chance to see the Leeds company performing under the new artistic directorship of Sharon Watson.

She has succeeded Caracas choreographer Javier de Frutos in the director’s post after the flamboyant Venezuelan left in September last year.

Sharon took over in the summer after a dormant period for the 27-year-old company with roots in inner-city Leeds and she has brought in a new team.

Her first choreographic contribution is Fast Lane, in which the dancers rely on power and their personal relationship to the powerful.

“Time, pressure and speed become the basic rules of survival,” she says. “When power is personal, alliances become crucial. This relentless pressure evokes the question: is this for the good of the whole or solely for the individual?

“Not all alliances exist for the benefit of the collective; the more opportunities created for the group, the more opportunities present themselves for you as an individual.

“Fast Lane explores through a physical and dynamic language the fundamental changes that can rock one’s life and the people within it.”

Fast Lane forms part of a mixed bill for Watson’s company of six dancers, led off by Beast by former Phoenix dancer Douglas Thorpe.

“Exploring our most intimate thoughts of rage, Beast is a disturbing experience of what could happen if those thoughts became a reality; when impulse becomes physical action,” says Thorpe.

Sharon is looking forward to the company’s return to a York stage. “Having performed as a dancer for our loyal Phoenix audience at the Theatre Royal, it’s great to be continuing that relationship in my first tour as artistic director,” she says.

“Historically, Phoenix has always felt at home there and I hope our audience will enjoy the new mixed programme.”

• Phoenix’s autumn dates also include Harrogate Theatre on Tuesday and the Riley Theatre, Leeds, on November 6 and 7, all shows starting at 7.30pm.

• For York tickets, phone 01904 623568 or book online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 219 3018 or www.nscd.ac.uk