ARTS at their best challenge ideas, perceptions and views, they entertain us and make us think.

Vincent Dance Theatre aims to do all of those things with its latest piece, Motherland which plays the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield next week.

The show is designed and directed by Charlotte Vincent and is at the LBT on Tuesday as part of a major UK tour featuring a celebration of almost 20 years of original and often provocative dance theatre.

In Motherland, Vincent Dance Theatre’s multi-talented ensemble of 11 men, women and children take a look at the gender they were born into and the price they are paying for it.

Spurred on by Simone de Beauvoir, Caitlin Moran and the Spice Girls, Charlotte Vincent goes into battle with the big boys, arguing against a narrow, over-sexualized definition of femininity to ask what it is that we really, really want.

The result is a show which blends dance, text and live music in a series of constantly shifting vignettes.

Motherland inches its way through airbrushed beauty, boob jobs and Botox, the might of motherhood and the challenge of childlessness. It is a funny and moving show about having it all.

Charlotte describes Motherland as a call to arms: one that challenges the shallow hypocrisies and inequalities of our time and asks ‘What do we hope for now?’

The company says its aim is to move people and make them think.

Vincent Dance Theatre were last at the LBT 18 months ago with a piece called, If We Go On.

Tickets for Motherland are £14, £12, £10 / Concessions £2 off and can be booked via the theatre Box Office on 01484 430528 or online at www.thelbt.org.

The performance begins at 7.30pm and there will be a behind the scenes post show discussion.