Five Dances, Five Systems of Belief, Entasi Dance Company Comes to Roedean Theatre This Julyc
Entasi Dance Company brings How to Hold an Ice Cube to Roedean Theatre on 18 July 2026 Image credit Entasi Dance Company
Five dances, five systems of belief
How do you hold on to something that is inevitable to melt? That is the question at the heart of How to Hold an Ice Cube, the bold new contemporary dance show from Brighton's Entasi Dance Company, coming to Roedean Theatre on Saturday 18 July 2026. Across five distinct pieces and an all female cast of 60 young dancers, the work examines the instability of human connection in an increasingly mediated world, exploring how technology, performance and collective behaviour continuously reshape our understanding of ourselves and each other.
For founder and choreographer Maria Kypreos, the concept began with the world young people are growing up in. "The idea came about through looking at the current society in which young people are growing up in and realising how fragile humanity can seem to be," she explains. "How do we hold an ice cube when we know it's going to melt? Some might want to preserve it, some might want to help it melt faster, some might consume it, let it drip, try and get rid of it completely. It starts a question in us as individuals to look both inwards and outwards."
Who are Entasi Dance Company
Entasi Dance Company is a Brighton based contemporary dance collective with a taste for the unexpected. The name itself says a lot. "Entasi translates to intensity in Greek, and this is something I always found myself drawn to in other professional work," says Maria. "It has also been used to describe my personality. I used to think it a hinderance but slowly found that this is what makes other people feel validated and is somewhat a common human experience. We all have our intensities, whether that's how deeply we feel or how much effort we invest into the things we love. I feel this intensity is what makes me feel alive, and that translates very much into how I feel when we move."
Maria comes from a Greek and Cypriot family but grew up in Brighton, raised by a father who taught her all about music. She trained at NSCD and later at Laban before completing a Masters in Performance and Culture at Goldsmiths University London. "I started working for other companies during my studying and then realised in order to feel fulfilled I needed to share what I wanted to say with others," she says. "I found a voice and wanted to help young people find theirs within this medium too." Today the company runs training across several levels for dancers from age seven upwards.
The five pieces
A body trained by algorithms. Human limbs constructed for observation. Crowds choreographed by obsession. A protest dissolving into spectacle. Traditional culture melting into something easier to consume. That is how the company sums up the journey of How to Hold an Ice Cube, five pieces that each interrogate a different system of belief and the ways identity, truth and intimacy are shaped by contemporary society.
The first piece touches on artificial intelligence and technology, looking at the uncanny overlap between newer technology and how it replicates human thought, while also finding refuge in the idea of a collective as a machine in its own right and what can be achieved even within a tech rising system. The second piece, Free-Range, delves into influencer culture and the constant consumerism young people face the moment they unlock their phones. Set in a butchers market rather than an online store, the dancers buy new limbs to feel accepted within today's beauty standards, even though the new limbs are not necessarily better, a sharp look at materialism, the loss of an authentic voice and a fast paced world of immediate gratification without reward.
The third piece, HERD, examines the obsession with status in a backrooms vintage style, exploring constant observation and the idolising of those in power, asking with a satirical edge who we follow, what we follow and why. The fourth, They Told Us To Sleep, is about defiance and protest, both the outward kind we see and the internal protests within ourselves as we work out what is right and wrong. The fifth and final piece, Na Liosei, meaning to melt in Greek, explores the dissolving of traditional Greek, Cypriot and wider Balkan culture, the pain of war and of leaving a homeland, and asks what is left behind when the things we know to be difficult are made easier to consume.
An all female cast of 60 young dancers
The show is performed by an all female cast of 60 extremely talented young dancers, ranging in age from 7 up to 19, with some appearing in more than one piece. It is a remarkable undertaking for a youth company, and a showcase of the depth of young dance talent coming out of Brighton.
It follows the company's previous work HOST, staged at Fabrica during Brighton Fringe 2025, and continues Entasi's commitment to giving young dancers a platform to explore ambitious, thought provoking ideas through movement.
What audiences can expect
This is contemporary dance that wants to start a conversation rather than simply entertain. "I hope that from the five pieces the audience take away something about themselves and how they relate to the ideas being portrayed, and ask themselves questions during the pieces and hopefully reflect on them as they leave," says Maria. "It has never been of most importance to have everyone love every single piece, but it is always the aim to get people talking and start a conversation within themselves and with the people and the worlds around them."
One thing worth knowing before you book. The second piece, Free-Range, contains simulated gore, fake bloody limbs and unsettling sound, so the show may not suit younger or more sensitive audience members. It is all in service of the work's themes, but worth being aware of in advance.
How to book
How to Hold an Ice Cube takes place at the Roedean Theatre, Roedean School, Brighton BN2 5RQ, on Saturday 18 July 2026. Doors open at 6pm and the show runs from 7pm to 9.15pm. There is free parking at the venue.
Tickets are priced between £12 and £15 and are available now through Eventbrite, with refunds available up to 7 days before the show. You can find out more about the company at entasidancecompany.co.uk or on Instagram @entasidance.
For more on what is happening across the city this summer, take a look at our Brighton Events Guide 2026, or head back to the ImJustBrighton homepage for the latest Brighton news, events and guides.
This article is part of a paid partnership with Entasi Dance Company.
