HERE, I think, is a clear manifesto of this company's current - indeed future - strengths. In the middle of the programme are beautifully crafted - blazingly demanding - pieces by two acclaimed masters: Jiri Kylian and Merce Cunningham. Flanking them are new works from two company members: Rafael Bonachela - a new choreographic presence on the main stage - and Didy Veldman, whose work has already proved a lively addition to the Rambert repertoire. The result is a full evening of diverse, diverting, and richly stimulating dance. Dance where the calibre of choreographic invention is matched, celebrated, by the sheer and unforced quality of performance.
Limbs that angle, quiver, double-back almost, in the quirky hieroglyphs that Kylian favours in No More Play take on a more meditative dynamic for Cunningham's Autumn Pace. Here there is a lovely sense of inner focused calm as the couples - seven in all, plus one singleton - play out a series of juxtapositions that might, or might not, add up to a kind of yin/yang balance . . . It's utterly beautiful to watch, utterly fiendish to dance. And yet this company carry it off with grace, lightness, and tranquillity. Qualities that were, in fact, evident from the start in Bonachela's thoughtful and assured choreography with its clearly-channelled energies. Qualities that continued through in Veldman's witty, perceptive study of superficial lifestyle, Greymatter. Drab, driven workers rushed to and fro in a cartoon rat race. Veldman's variety of choreographic language encompassed all these nuances
of emotion and more. In one evening we glimpsed the ongoing heritage that is essential Rambert: the ability to dance strongly and effectively in anyone else's terms, while continuing to create their own outstanding work.
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