There is a joyous confusion at the heart of The Journey, presented by the Sikulu Company as a voyage through the recent history of South Africa. It would be easy, and not altogether wrong, to suggest that it's the African forerunner of Riverdance, except that here the costumes are better; the tempting similarity lies in the unsparing totemic rhythms, the heightened pulse which maintains an energy that could be called "raw" were it not shaped with such sophistication.

The confusion is due to the fact that history is not clearcut, and a musical interpretation of a nation's recovery of itself cannot be a simple rendition. Here, the action begins in a tribal village and moves to the seedy side of city life, to the gospel hall, the drugs squat, the shebeen, the street protest, and back to the homelands again. Tribal blues, in fact - the gamut from immemorial rhythms to boogie nights.

This is a cultural journey and the narrative moves easily through the several musical languages employed by the direction team headed by Peter Lefika, Andy Chabeli (of "Ipi Tombi" fame), Ray Molefe, Sam Mhangwani and others. Despite the many miracles of timing, of visual effect (the supple, swaying hips, the linked arms undulating in a sinuous extension of the dance) and of individual skill, the overriding impact of this thundering production comes first from the use - if not often enough - of unaccompanied voices with their unique timbre, and secondly from the unstinting generosity of the performance as a whole. Nothing is given in short measure, and if there is exhaustion at the end of this expenditure of high-octane energy, it isn't obvious on the stage, where the Sikulu band, led by Mac Mathunjwa, just keeps on playing.

The Journey is at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, from Tuesday to Saturday March 3rd-7th, and at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin from March 10th to 21st.