FORGET pretty shapes to music.

The powerful dance show What The Body Does Not Remember, by Brussels-based Wim Vandekeybus and Ultima Vez, has achieved legendary status since it first exploded onto the dance scene 28 years ago.

Renowned for pushing dance to new physical extremes, it coined a whole new vocabulary of barrelling combat rolls, high-flung kicks and bodies used as missiles.

Now the seminal dance work comes to Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts, as part of a national tour that visits 12 UK venues, including Sadler’s Wells, London.

Premiering in 1987, What the Body Does Not Remember caused a sensation in the world of dance with its intense atmosphere and high-octane physicality.

It was so well received in New York that year it garnered a prestigious Bessie Award, which was unusual for a debut piece of choreography.

There is little that is pretty or pleasant about Vandekeybus’ first piece of choreography.

His show is described as a balance “on the razor edge of attraction and repulsion”.

The dancers are driven to act and react at high speed, and with split-second timing, to both each other and to the music – and where its moments of humour thread through explosions of aggression, fear and danger in an adrenaline-fuelled performance, played out on a combative landscape.

Twenty-eight years on and with a new cast, this iconic piece of physical theatre, remains one of the most exciting pieces of dance ever made.

The UK tour is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Arts Council of Wales.

Performances start at 7.45pm from February 27-28. Tickets cost £17.75 (£16 plus £1.75 booking fee); to book call 0844 406 8666 or visit lighthousepoole.co.uk