"The first new work was Stay by Daniel Davidson. Ex-Rambert and Scottish Ballet, Davidson is now a freelance choreographer that we should all follow. He particularly impressed me with a work for Ballet Central two years ago (I think we’re on different planets) and here again he delivered a contemporary work that was particularly fresh, modern and sultry. Readers of a certain age will remember Hot Gossip’s TV appearances, and while there was more choreographic variety here, Stay felt like a bang up-to-date version of Gossip’s ability to hit the beat and look sassy, without going too far over the top on the raunch. With lots of hips and attitude and to richly-layered electronic sounds (Restive Plaggona and Shakespears Sister), nearly always underpinned by strong drums, the costumes of Stay really complemented the clubby feel with their black tights and printed tops emphasising busts and six-pack torsos. For 12 ponytailed female dancers there is a polished pop-video feel at work here and I liked that Davidson has created a work that gave them all a solo, often while the rest of the group shimmered behind, and made each and every one look fabulous and powerful. He knows how to work a line or group of dancers, and it never flagged in its smoothly feline inventiveness. It was certainly the work I most liked on the night."
- Bruce Marriott for LiftedLeg
"Daniel Davidson’s I think we’re on different planets was a complete contrast, returning to a more contemporary dance vibe. It began in silence as the dancers gradually populated the stage. Isolated, traumatised, clutching their rib cages, they became a collective howl of anguish against loneliness. It reminded me of the Pandemic: the dancers seemed simultaneously to embody both the human victims and individual fragments of the virus worming its way among them, until out of the pain there emerged a beautiful duet."
- Maggie Watson for Oxford Dance Writers
"Daniel Davidson’s very appealing Dear, I Fear (a vision in pink) is an exploration of the complexities of relationships and ultimate heartbreak that can occur. Taking up that theme, a series of duets and short small group sections sometimes feel edgy. One beautiful, sensuous duet (Serena McCall and Stanley Young) to Jonas Crabtree’s weirdly beautiful ‘Heart of Glass’ remix, which mixes Blondie with Philip Glass, stands out; that couple later joined by two others. Upstage, like a backing group or chorus, a tight group often forms, shifting like kelp waving gently in an underwater current."
- David Mead for seeingdance
"It was mesmerising, and the senior dancers looked 110% at home in such a professional context. Davidson, ex-Scottish Ballet and Rambert, certainly delivered the moody look, and just when you think you’ve taken it all in, the piece changes. The projections seem to take you underwater, where the movement for the corps neatly shimmers."
- Bruce Marriott for LiftedLeg
"In the scene named 'Ache' a gauze screen was lowered to cover the front stage with stars and even shooting stars projected onto it. With a rolling space scene on the backdrop behind the dancers, I was awestruck. I was transported to another world - or was it meant to be an asteroid? - either way, it was magnificent and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor."
- lisainthetheatre.com
"The future of modern ballet is in safe and sure hands in 'Horse,' a work celebrating the Chinese Year of the Horse."
- Lauren Humphreys for The Reviews Hub Scotland
"The last work before the interval, was the one that impressed me most: Daniel Davidson‘s I think we’re on different planets. It opened in silence and subdued lighting, with just one dancer at the back of the stage, looking rather like an Antony Gormley iron man. Then, very slowly, other dancers stroll on stage to form a 17-strong line, and the cast is assembled. One slowly starts to walk off, and you think, “Good grief, is this a contemporary dance spoof?” But then the piece starts proper, and mysteriously loose duets erupt at the front of the stage while the frieze of dancers at the back provide visual texture and wait their turn. It’s a work about the quest for love and togetherness, and while there are many unhappy looks, the movement is beautiful, stretched and smoothly beguiling. It gains further interest and more group kinetics in the second part to Fabiana Palladino’s Mystery, with its poppy electronic base and haunting vocals."
- Bruce Marriott for LiftedLeg