DIG is, in many ways, deep. This is Dance International Glasgow, happening now and running to May 24. Here is an established festival of contemporary dance produced by Tramway – surely one of the most beautiful venues to be found anywhere. Each curated DIG show is a full production, centring on an individual’s creative initiative, manifesting as boldly or as waywardly as its author would desire.

Beneath the surface is a co-operative process of making that involves vital peer support, wise mentoring, pockets of state funding, and careful test stages. This may be an industry.

DIG looks to position artists as drivers of their public exposure. This is evidenced by the apparition of striking soul-baring images. In tandem, advance descriptions spool out with unedited abundance. Such words could inspire or mystify, weaving around the general message: “We can’t really outline what this will be like, but here is a bundle of motives.”

I’d say DIG events are in a kind of flux, ready to shift shape in collusion with an audience. Proactive punters can, by sample and witness, enhance a show mounted by long-standing diva Emilyn Claid, another by Colette take-us-all-to-bits Sadler or something pleasingly immediate by the exquisitely wide-eyed Vince Virr. Elsewise and offsite, a Buzzcut presentation features novices Harold Beharie (Norway) and Pik Kei Wong (Hong Kong) exemplifying shifting identity in their solos Batty Bwoy and Bird-Watching.

DIG performances are given no more than once or twice. Locales extend to outdoor venues. Talks, workshops and free looped installations are geared to sustain the intrepid. Given deliberately modest entry prices, I counsel random visits as a risk well worth taking. Because I can go on a Wednesday, I’m up for Dance is Not for Us (Lebanon/France) and Bottoms (Bulgaria/Scotland).

For more information and tickets see: tramway.org