Love, art & rock n roll: Rambert at Sadler's Wells

As Britain’s oldest dance company, Rambert aims to commission the most exciting choreographers of today to create diverse compositions which challenge and showcase its 22 classically and contemporary trained dancers. The company tours these new pieces along with seminal works throughout the UK to critical acclaim.

Culture vultures in the capital are fortunate to have the opportunity to experience two recent additions to Rambert’s repertoire in November, while also taking advantage of the final chance to see a much-loved favourite.

A moonlit confrontation between two lovers is shown twice in double Olivier Award-winning choreographer Kim Brandstrup’s Transfigured Night. This cinematic love story is presented once from the woman’s point of view and once from the man’s – revealing their individual hopes, fears and secrets.

Set to ‘Verklärte Nacht’ (Transfigured Night) by 20th Century musical giant Arnold Schoenberg, this is Brandstrup’s first new work for Rambert since 2004. Audiences should anticipate virtuosic dancing which echoes the achingly beautiful music’s theme of embracing unconditional love.

Picasso’s brushstrokes are vividly brought to life by former Rambert dancer turned dance-maker Didy Veldman in The Three Dancers. She was inspired by the painter’s Cubist masterpiece of the same name, which artfully depicts a passionate - and ultimately tragic - love triangle.

Expect love, desire and betrayal to fuse with haunting undercurrents of ecstasy and doom in Veldman’s piece, performed to new orchestral music by acclaimed Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

Topping the bill is your final chance to see Rambert’s revival of Christopher Bruce’s classic crowd-pleaser, Rooster, first performed by Rambert in 1994.

An electrifying smash-hit, Rooster is about boys meeting girls in the swinging sixties. Sharply-dressed, snake-hipped men strut their stuff to the pulsating rock ‘n’ roll rhythms of the Rolling Stones’ most toe-tapping tunes including Little Red Rooster, from which it takes its name. Why? Well, it’s all in a bid to impress the sassy women who found their je ne sais quoi during the era of sexual revolution.

Bruce’s infectious production is packed full of potent partnerships, humour, personality and - obviously - swagger. Moves like Jagger’s are par for the course, but Bruce’s playfully technical style prevails, incorporating contemporary, modern ballet, jazz, jive, social dance, courtly dance and rock ‘n’ roll.

Prepare to be entertained.

Free pre-show talks: with Artistic Director Mark Baldwin (BSL-interpreted) Wed. 18:30

with Musical Director Paul Hoskins Fri. 18:30