'Inspiration comes from being alive'

Choreographer Filip Van Huffel admits he can never stand still.

"I'm dancing around now," he tells the Mail from his Antwerp studios.

The Belgian has transmitted much of this energy into the fizzy performances of his group, Retina Dance.

During the past 15 years the company – which has a base in Nottingham as well as his homeland – has aimed to create an individual take on contemporary dance.

In Relative Danger, which first toured in 2008, the personalities of a group of five friends was explored – in a performance that used dance to highlight their different characters.

And in the latest piece Antipode – which arrives at Junction, Goole, on Friday – the theme is opposites.

"It's something I'd wanted to do for a while," Filip said. "It's not just in terms of a global opposite – in the sense of someone living in the UK and someone else living in New Zealand – but opposites in the way we move, in our physicality.

"I like to create dance using the whole body, it's very different to normal movement. And while it's abstract – it doesn't tell a particular story – I hope people will find it dynamic to watch."

The production, which involves four performers – accompanied by a cellist – also aims to demystify contemporary dance.

"It's something that people do not understand," Filip said.

"They do not understand how it gets created. So for this performance, we're having an extra session at the end where people can create their own dance show. They can suggest ideas and we'll create a short piece from it. They'll see that it is something that involves a lot of improvisation from the dancers – there's no script that we follow."

He feels the misunderstanding around contemporary dance stems from this freedom.

"The problem is that there are no rules," he said.

"If you go to see a ballet, you know what you are going to get.

"With contemporary dance, there's no story for people to follow – it's all about the physicality and the physical relationships between people."

With Filip's constant desire to be on the move – not least in his regular Eurostar commutes between Belgium and England – there's plenty of opportunity for people watching.

And, perhaps unsurprisingly, inspiration can strike anywhere.

"Where does inspiration come from? It comes from being alive," he said.

"It doesn't matter where I am – I might be on the train, or walking down the street when I spot something.

"I always carry a notebook with me so I can make a sketch of a movement. It could be anything – it could be the rhythm of a city."