Rambert, Sadler's Wells, review: Miguel Altunaga was in firecracker form

Rambert’s handsomely danced triple bill swoops from love stories to the rock’n’roll swagger of Rooster

(Simone Damberg Würtz)

Kim Brandstrup’s fine new Transfigured Night conjures up an emotional landscape, a world of tangled feelings. It’s a strong centrepiece for Rambert’s handsomely danced triple bill, which swoops from love stories to the rock’n’roll swagger of Rooster.

Brandstrup sets Simone Damberg Würtz moving among crowds of dancers to Schoenberg’s lush score. They surge and reform around her, suggesting a dark forest or aspects of her own troubled mind. She pursues a remote Miguel Altunaga, then looks back to see Dane Hurst and Hannah Rudd as a younger, happier couple.

The duets are touchingly detailed: Hurst nuzzles at Rudd before bouncing into a handstand, all overflowing energy. When Altunaga finally acknowledges Würtz, it’s with one trembling hand, reaching behind him. Chloe Lamford’s design and Fabiana Piccioli’s lighting give the work a glowing, rusty warmth.

Didy Veldman’s The 3 Dancers was inspired by a Picasso painting and the real people behind it. Two trios grapple, stuck together at the hands, to Elena Kats-Chernin’s tango-flavoured new score. After a good beginning, the piece loses focus, drifting between narrative and abstract dance.

The London performances were a last chance to catch Rooster, Christopher Bruce’s hugely popular Rolling Stones ballet. Altunaga was in firecracker form, strutting with gusto.