Wayne McGregor - Random Dance

Wayne McGregor's versatility and unmistakably original style makes this choreography perhaps the most powerful and important of the past twenty years. Whether breathing fresh life into 'the establishment' as Resident Choreographer at the Royal Ballet or choreographing Thom Yorke in the latest Radiohead video, McGregor's popularity has had little bearing on his fierce vision and clarity of voice. FAR sees McGregor return to his own company in an exploration of technology's developing relationship with the carnal. The programme notes make for beguiling, heavy pre-show reading. Despite this, FAR proves a poetic triumph.

Serving as a prelude, the company dance in pairs, dimly lit by flickering flames, accompanied by a Verdi aria; it's an atmospheric starting point, and the touchstone for the entire piece. In the shimmer the dancers move languidly, then momentarily become agitated and violent, foreshadowing the piece with an uneasy sense of disorder and estrangement, something characteristic of McGregor's choreographic vocabulary.

This shadowy birth of enlightenment breaks after several minutes with the introduction of a monolithic white lighting panel which permeates technological supremacy over the freedom and balance of the dancers' relationships with one another. The movement is more focused but more disrupted and deranged; sexually charged and severe, as opposed to inquisitive and dumb, as in the opening section. Ben Frost's score navigates McGregor's themes throughout wonderfully, as haunting ballads are ravaged by distortion and machine noise.

What is distinctive and strangely intuitive in the piece is the dancers' complex and highly personalised responses to their stimulus. This is one of McGregor's great strengths. The steps, the music and frantic circuit board lighting are in constant flux, never settling and allowing the audience to form simplistic notions of narrative. The confusion creates a strange cerebral lightness which is challenging and engaging. McGregor's voice is strongest in this abstract tone. As pure dance, it's stunning.

Unfortunately several times the aesthetic weakens the piece, and strains its overarching sensual beauty. For example, a mid-section lit by a warm sunlight hew, renews the dancers with strong, provocative and long, graceful strides, almost reminiscent of Alvin Ailie. While McGregor's work is eclectic, this seemed odd and lacking, selling short the overall intelligence of the work. Subsequently the shift back to the monolith becomes at times distracting and overbearing. FAR may not be McGregor's most perfect work, but it does command attention and praise, as does this incredibly powerful choreographer and his brilliantly inventive company.