When most dance companies hit a landmark year – usually with a zero or five in it – it’s an excuse to look back and present some of their most popular performances in an easily digestible show.

When Yael Flexer looked back over two decades in dance, she came up with the idea of Weightless – an “anti-greatest hits” examining the pull history and nostalgia can have on an artist.

“It’s quite a heavy show – not at all weightless!” laughs Flexer, as the national tour prepares to climax in Brighton.

“It has little self-deprecating moments. Normally when you reach a big anniversary, you do a big show which has everything you’ve done to show how brilliant you are; we wanted to do the reverse.”

That said, there are references to previous shows within the hour-long performance.

“You might recognise them but it doesn’t matter if you don’t,” says Flexer, who appears onstage alongside long-time collaborators and new dancers.

“The piece pokes fun at the notion of history – whether it makes you any more important or knowledgeable. We wanted to question the value of history.”

By looking back over the group’s past, Flexer discovered an archive of moves that were still retained within her dancers’ bodies.

“For one of the pieces we asked a dancer to do something she had performed in 2011,” recalls Flexer. “If you’ve programmed something enough it might take some time to recreate it, but there’s a memory that lives in yourself which doesn’t really go away – a bit like swimming or cycling.”

Accompanying the movements is text from theatre-maker Wendy Houstoun, in her first collaboration with Flexer.

“Wendy’s text is more poking fun at me,” says Flexer, who was convinced to perform in the piece by Houstoun.

“She insisted I was in it. She gave me some writing exercises and reworked what I had written, so it’s her writing but in my voice. It comes across as something quite personal. It was an interesting journey, forming somebody’s ideas and voice through another writer.”

Although this is Houstoun’s first time working with the company, other collaborators have previous form. The musical score is by Dougie Evans, who worked on the company’s last piece, and Karni Postel, who was with Flexer at the very start.

Nic Sandiland has provided live projections, including a comment on nostalgia using live photograbs of the performers on stage.

“You can invent and play with nostalgia,” says Flexer. “There’s nothing historical about the live grabs, but they have a historical flavour.

“With the visual imagery, we try to bring a sense of destabilisation – that you’re never quite on the ground. As you go through life, there are always moments that catch you off-balance. We swap the ground with the sky through some of the footage and live capturing.

“We wanted to give the idea that what holds you down can be something that allows you to fly. How you try to escape your roots can define you in terms of your identity.

“Nic and I have been collaborating since 2005 – his projections add another dimension to the work. It’s not high-tech; it’s about using technology to create another layer of meaning.”

Another major theme running through the work is the process of ageing.

It’s something which transfers to a new piece accompanying Weightless – a ten-minute performance by Three Score Dance Company, which is made up of male and female dancers aged 60 and over.

“There have been quite a few works by female choreographers that look at ageing,” says Flexer, who admits that she prefers choreography to performance.

“In mainstream dance there is very little that allows a middle-aged female performer’s voice to come through.

“It’s been great working with Three Score – they are not professional dancers, although some have done related arts as professionals. We are trying to make it so one piece balances the other.”

In addition, Nic Sandiland’s installation Trip Hazard will be in the Brighton Dome Cafe Bar until Friday, March 7. The interactive piece shows a series of catastrophic consequences caused by the inadvertent actions of passers-by.

“It’s a very accessible work,” says Flexer.

“It’s great for all ages – my children have been playing with it in the living room constantly!

"It shows how dance can be a part of every day – movement is a broader term for it.”