Last night’s programme at Resolution! was overflowing with physical humour. Clever and engaging, these three groups: taciturn, (Zoe Cobb) The Artful Badger, and Ivan Blackstock delivered unique perspectives to the everyday event, infusing and delighting the audience with creative performance.

Taciturn could upstage and deliver some comical lessons to all airline staff: based around health and safety guidelines, this trio demonstrates what to do when your parachute fails, what to do in an earthquake, how to search for a bomb and, finally, how to take a punch. The physical prowess of these three dancers lends itself to what was approaching slapstick comedy, but with enough movement charm to engage with contemporary dance. There were artful transitions between the comedic and the sensitive, the suspended and the rushed; voiceovers, music and vocalization created and carried the scenarios they seamlessly developed. Energetic and engaging, this piece was over far too quickly, though it’s best to go out with a bang. (sorry)

Although not strictly contemporary dance, the second offering of the night performed by another trio: The Artful Badger toyed with the experience of a new bird entering into the world, developing relationships within and around itself. Personalities shaped these dancers as the work progressed, and the physical depiction of this experience, paralleled with the human experience, was touching and often quite comical. Demonstrating curiosity, repetition, camaraderie and even jealousy, these birds bounced and pecked around one another and toward the audience, ruffling their ample feathers in delight and frustration. Though the soundscape was minimal, this work contained a delicate nuance that was emotionally warming.

In the final work for the evening, Ivan Blackstock examined the humourous possibilities of things that go bump in the night. Disturbed by the sleeping habits of the woman next to him, his frustration built into a scene reminiscent of Bedknobs and Broomsticks – nightclothes, jeans and hoodies bounding around the stage with personality and cunning. This extended scene, entertaining in itself, was somewhat two-dimensional, though the antics were clearly humanising, and the empathy of the situation was engaging and enriching for the audience. The movement vocabulary was set to impress, these obviously talented dancers performing complex movement phrases with impressive ease. Blackstock is clearly a choreographer who likes to entertain, and with his band of black-unitard-cum-clothing helpers, he certainly succeeded, his exit littered with numerous bouts of applause.