Suse Tietjen's 'Brother Of Sleep' stood out when I was researching the works in this year's Resolution: somewhere, I came across a blog explaining that Johannes Elias Alder, a fictional Austrian musical genius, was struggling with unrequited love when he was told "a true lover never sleeps", and so took his own life, having resolved never to sleep again. This was certainly a rich story to tackle through abstract dance.

Suse Tietjen is currently studying for her Masters at Roehampton University, and her cast of eight Roehampton dance students included members of Roehampton's final-year company Third Row, while a quartet of live musicians performed Gareth Moorcraft's 'Brother Of Sleep', an abstract and at times discordant work.

Suse Tietjen's choreography had an improvised feel, with overt use of breath, creating movement with an ephemeral feel: like the music, it washed over the audience without leaving a lasting impression, but offering us glimpses of the story through her dancers' committed performances.  

Lucy Palmer, a Roehampton graduate, was the second choreographer of the evening, presenting 'Scratch Mark', tackling another tough, meaty subject with similar flesh-coloured costumes, however with sharper, fiercer movement from the opening solo.

Initially exploring touching interaction between the six dancers, 'Scratch Mark' abruptly shifted its tone to become far more commercial and tighter, seemingly contradicting the theme of the work. While it was nice to see the dancers perform with such physicality, with standout performances by Sylvie Cox, the choreography itself seemed uninspired, drawing on too-familiar moves.

The clear headliner of the evening was Ihsaan De Banya and Kenny Wing Tao Ho, both recent graduates of London Contemporary Dance School, with Ihsaan now in Richard Alston Dance Company and Kenny in Protein Dance; I had last seen them perform together in Joseph Toonga's work "Moments, Past" in our July festival. Both are exceptional dancers, as we have seen from various performances over the years.

'Casting Shadows' started with Kenny putting his hand on Ihsaan's face, and from there we watched the two moving in perfect harmony, showing us the strong connection between the two. Very different physically, their unison work was interesting as it highlighted their different responses to the same movement, however the piece's strengths were when they broke away from each other choreographically, but continually returning to each other - possibly symbolic of their transition from student to post-graduation life.

Having seen Kenny and Ihsaan in other people's works, it's very rewarding to see them creating for themselves and making their own creative choices - and seeing how distinctive their own movement is. A very promising start, 'Casting Shadows' is one of the most original and inspired works we'll see in Resolution this year.