Dance review: Rambert Dance Company

MARK Baldwin, Rambert's artistic director, likens his company's triple bills to a three-course meal. This latest offering by Britain's flagship contemporary dance company seems to do everything a good restaurant should: challenge the palate; fill you with intoxicating flavours; and leave you feeling ever so slightly gorged.

Aletta Collins' Awakenings was the starter, a thought-provoking piece inspired by Dr Oliver Sacks's book of the same name. Eight dancers in frozen poses slowly re-learn the art of motion, moving awkwardly before building up momentum. But while Collins is to be admired for capturing the essence of Sacks's patients and their "sleepy sickness", there's not a huge amount to hook on to emotionally.

The same cannot be said for Tim Rushton's Monolith, which had its world premiere in Edinburgh on Wednesday. If Baldwin was looking for a main course, then this moving, powerful and utterly engaging work is most certainly it. Not only did Rushton capture a plethora of human emotions in the piece, but his background in classical ballet gave the dancers a chance to show off their incredible technique.

The night closed with Henrietta Horn's Cardoon Club – a real knickerbocker-glory of a piece. At first, it feels as though Horn has used a racehorse to give donkey rides on the beach, so simplistic is the movement. But as this stylish slice of 1960s nightlife takes shape, the complexity of Horn's choreography shows yet another side to this talented company.