Hip hop meets contemporary dance to stunning effect in Smother from 201 Dance Company, which visited The Courtyard last night.

The piece, choreographed by Andrea Walker, exploded into life with a high voltage, maximum impact number featuring all seven dancers, moving on to tell two love stories through a series of duets as two young men - Andrea Walker and Saran Kohli - and two women - Amy Lucas and Michaela Cisarikova - make moves on, around and with one another. The opening number, though, lulls you into a false sense of knowing where you are - this is hip hop as we know it - fast and furious, spectacular and synchronised, but as the stories unfold to a more lyrical soundtrack, including the emotionally charged Smother by Daughter, it's clear that street dance doesn't need obvious hip hop beats to make an impact.

Smother has no elaborate set, nothing to distract the attention from the dance, just lighting changes and a single minimally used prop, but the seven dancers in 201 have no need of anything but their skill as dancers to tell this moving story, which, alongside the love stories, brings in themes of addiction and obsession. With a clear narrative and dance that seems to inhabit the music, each adding new dimensions to the other, this is dance that really hits the spot.