Batik Dance Company June 8, 2007

Following her stunning choreographic debut with the acclaimed SIDE-B in 2002, Ikuyo Kuroda has picked up a string of awards in her native Japan, and is emerging as a rising star across the dance world.

After being awarded the Toyota Choreography Prize in 2003, she was invited to perform at The Place as part of Dance Umbrella 2004. Building movement rooted in classical ballet, Kuroda's work with her company Batik tests the dancer's body to its brutal limits.

Shoku is strange and wonderful, crammed with unusual movement and simmering with undercurrents of sex and foreboding. Amid a flurry of stomping boots and blood-red dresses, the dancers' wild movements and screams build in a contorted, mesmerising display of dance that is unlike anything you have seen before.

Please note: Contains scenes of a strong sexual nature. Parental discretion required.