X Factor: Query

No, not a questioning of the culture degenerating ITV show. This event, thankfully, has nothing to do with Simon Cowell. And yet... Query deliberately references key elements of pop culture, and it is right that it does so, for where else are the boundaries of sex and gender so often clearly defined. You're a Britney or a Justin; a girl in tight clothing or a be-stubbled man. Anything in between and confusion begins to creep in, along with labels such as 'avant-garde' or even 'subversive'.

Rather fitting then, that X Factor's latest outing is a collaboration on many levels; of geography, of artistic forms and of company members. Query is a product of both the choreographers involved - X Factor's own Alan Greig and New York's Bessie award winning Gerald Casel - but also of the hand-picked dancers each brought to the project. Workshopping at Dancebase, the starting point for this exploration of gender and sexuality was Gore Vidal's ground-breaking novel Myra Breckinridge - although Casel was quick to urge audience members at a Dancebase preview to try and forget the text, and interpret the piece distinct from the Vidal reputation.

The result is intensely hypnotic; part mesmerising seduction, part piss-take, part physical challenge, and all provoking. In any piece a dancer's body is his/her (do you see what I did there?) instrument, but in Query it is also their inspiration, the cross to bear, a weapon and their comfort. Movement, limbs, voices, apparel, behaviour - all the things that go into helping or hindering us to be the gender we associate with - are poked, prodded, presented and parodied, with a keen sense of humour evident throughout. Occasionally things veer into cliche - watching a man scribble on himself with lipstick seems obtrusively obvious against the surrounding beautiful subtlety - but there's enough wit and passion to make up for it. Refreshingly original, approachable as frivolous fun or symbolic exposition - often at the same time - Query ticks all the boxes.