5/5

Richard Alston’s company marks it 20th anniversary with this production of four richly diverse works, choreographed by Alston and Martin Lawrence, who some regard as his natural successor.

The latter is responsible for Burning, inspired by the music and febrile love life of composer Franz Liszt, in which Liam Riddick and Nancy Nerantzi’s duet to the Dante Sonata thrillingly captures the thrust and thunder of all-consuming passion.

It’s a dazzling display of controlled complexity from the pair, with some gravity-defying leaps and precise floor work.

In contrast, Alston’s Rejoice in the Lamb (pictured) opens the programme with the company of dancers supported by the 24-voice strong Montclair State University Vocal Accord onstage.

The mix of elegant choreography, in response to the pastoral elements in Benjamin Britten’s score and the 18th-century poet Christopher Smart’s petition to God might be conceptually curious.

Yet the connect of voices with dancers fix the disparate elements in a bravura combination of movement and sound.

The world premiere of Nomadic, Alston’s joint choreography project with hip hop dancer Ajani Johnson-Goffe, is a sensational execution of tension and repose set to driving Romany ursari beats by the the Shukar Collective.

Startling stuff, which encapsulates the energetic core of the company and that’s reiterated by Ihsaan de Banya’s devastating performance in the dark moods of Lawrance’s Madcap, in which Riddick and Nerantzi return to provide another compelling duet.

Tours until June 13, details: richardalstondance.com