TWO weekend events at the Cottier brought home the message that dance can build bridges between cultures and communities - and it can also offer young people a form of self expression that gets them noticed.

Colourbox - devised by Chirstinn Whyte to music by Craig Armstrong - brought together local primary children in a series of short dances that reflected images associated with different colours. While Whyte herself performed three marvellously lucid, lyrical solos, conjuring up the mood and feel of Silver, Green and Orange - the youngsters interpolated shades of Black, Blue and Red. They flew like comets in black space, swam beneath a blue silk waft of sea and turned warrior-like battle stances into touching hands of bridging friendship. It was a wee gem of an event, not least because Whyte - now based in Dublin - has entered a new dimension as a performer, revealing an altogether softer, more poetic strength both in her material and her movement.

Pieces And Jam Projekt 11:92's special youth dance platform - included a welcome return of Thomas and Waldo with Frog Spawn (a kind of Reeves and Mortimer dance Samuel Beckett duet), Dunterlie Youth Dance Theatre, using street dance as a telling medium for street dramas, as well as a guest appearance (hot from the Scottish Youth Dance Festival) by the Nuremberg group, Re-Spect whose mean, moody and stunningly synchronised set stated that cool dudes can get all the attention they please from dancing like sexy demons. Dance really is a social affair - it's about giving kids a way of channelling their energies in ways that feed into society, rather than simply crashing it. Dance on, guys, please.