APART from that awful You Tube video of George W Bush jigging about on the White House lawn for Malaria Day, it’s not often the US president is associated with dance.

But his face appears, larger than life, as part of a new piece of physical theatre being performed in Merseyside this week.

Gravitas, created by the multi- awardwinning company Earthfall, is an exploration of the human response to war. It brings together, dance, live music, film footage and text in an hour-long performance that aims to stimulate and provoke.

“We’re watching the world, the behaviour of governments – good and bad – and we’re drawing on our own experiences growing up and the difficulties we had going into young adulthood,” explains Gravitas director Jim Ennis, who confounded Earthfall 20 years ago.

“So the piece looks at relationships in different stages of harmony and disharmony, with the backdrop of world conflict.”

The work considers Britain’s “special relationship” with the US and the country’s involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also includes true testimonies of two performers describing their experiences of being locked up – one in a cell, the other imprisoned in a room by a man.