Dance review: Rambert - Edinburgh

IT TAKES a steady hand to layer more than one dance style together, avoiding jaggy edges between the two. Shobana Jeyasingh is solid as a rock in her formation of Terra Incognita, a brand new work inspired by land discovery in the late Middle Ages.

A scene from Rooster by Christopher Bruce and Rambert Dance Company. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Rambert

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

****

At first the movement feels contemporary, dancers entering and re-entering from the side with sharp-edged limbs. Then a balletic flow starts to kick in, most notably from former Scottish Ballet boys Adam Blyde and Luke Ahmet (our loss, Rambert’s immeasurable gain) whose grace knows no bounds.

With just a flick of a hand, however, Jeyasingh’s dance heritage comes into play, and her training in the Indian classical dance style of Bharata Natyam adds another delicious flavour to this clever and engaging work.

American-born, Israeli-based choreographer Barak Marshall also serves up a culturally mixed bag, with similarly successful results – in the dancing at least. The Castaways finds a group of largely unpleasant, one-dimensional characters stuck in a basement, and their own personal hells.

Marshall’s musical choices and choreography are a true joy to behold, let down by text which sometimes amuses but never really moves.

Christopher Bruce, on the other hand, has no need for words – he says everything that needs to be said through his steps.

Set to eight classic Rolling Stones tracks, Rooster is a masterclass in narrative subtlety, the excitement of his choreography embellished by the remarkably high standard of the current crop of Rambert dancers.

Seen on 27.11.14

• Run ends today