Published: 11 March 2010
by NATALIE LI

FRESH from the US, Richard Alston’s dance company bounded in with full force to kick-start a spring and summer tour. Dividing opinion as ever, it was a mixed programme which landed up at Sadler’s Wells last week. To Dance And Skylark, first performed in 2009, was choreographed by Martin Lawrance and worked wonderfully to the music of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Two and Three.

Tort and lean, figures leapt across the stage as the music surged through the sculptural lines, interspersed with intimate dance duo pieces.

Yet repetition seemed to follow in the final piece, Overdrive, now a set GCSE piece. Sleek and well-configured, the performers shone as Alston’s famous work exuded the energy for which he is known. But after 20 minutes of Terry Riley’s relentless music, the rhythm began to leave the audience drifting off. It was Movements from Petrushka which won audiences as Alston took the original 1911 Fokine ballet about the suffering of the puppet Petrushka to feed into the downfall of the character Vaslav Nijinsky, who first danced the role. The weaving of a narrative as this troubled dancer grapples with his emotions succeeds as the other dancers flank his turmoil, all against Stravinsky’s powerful piano arrangement.

Alston’s programme proves an exhilarating ride, in some places awkward but altogether he managing to conquer Sadler’s Wells once again.

Now touring nationwide