X FACTOR: Dancers prepare for their show at the Xposition 'O' Contemporary Dance Fiesta. -- ST PHOTO: ALAN LIM

Just ask Danny Tan, artistic director of local contemporary dance company Odyssey Dance Theatre.

Not only did the 35-year-old glean new insights into the arts, he also found a kindred spirit in London-based dancer and choreographer Cathy Seago.

Both performed solo pieces at the International Choreographers Showcase in Edinburgh last August and struck up a conversation about educating audiences about art while hanging out backstage.

Tan says: 'In Singapore, the audience always look for posh clean theatres but in Europe, people look for good art rather than good venues. It's more about what kinds of work are put on.'

Seago, 32, who is in Singapore to perform, adds: 'We had similar concerns about the relationship between art and its accessibility and we thought it would be interesting to further them in our work.'

Those discussions are bearing fruit - in the form of Odyssey's fourth biennial contemporary dance festival, Xposition 'O'. Seago and her dancers are among five groups presenting work at the festival, which seeks to showcase the variety of contemporary dance.

The programme also includes Tan's new work, The Story Begins; Indian dancer Raka Maitra's solo dance called Boundaries; and two works by two Korean choreographers and dancers. Lee Jung Yeon and Namjin Kim are presenting Dark Desert and Begging respectively.

Seago's 30-minute piece was created in February this year and has been performed in London and throughout the south-eastern part of England. Called How We Know We Are Here Part I, it incorporates video and dance and is 'about finding a way for different art forms to speak to each other'.

She says: 'We were asking questions about theatre space mostly. The way you look at dance is very different from the way you listen to music. Making the production was almost like creating a moving landscape.'

Tan's piece also weaves a narrative of live movement interspersed with video pieces.

Asked why he persists with his own dance festival when the Esplanade arts centre and the Singapore Arts Festival are going big on dance, he says: 'I want to show the audience what Asian contemporary dance is. We might be a small boutique festival but at least it's a positive sign that such things are possible.'

June Cheong