POZNAN Robert Bondara is an ambitious man with a solid career as dancer, notably with the Polish National Ballet, and an international presence as choreographer. Since he was appointed Ballet Director of the Poznań Opera Ballet in 2018 he has ploughed his energy into making the company into one of the most exciting in Europe with a repertoire to match.

The programme 4: Pastor/ León&Lightfoot/ Bondara, brings a welcome revival of contemporary classics. Moving Rooms, to music by Schnittke and Górecki, is one of Krzysztof Pastor’s first ballets and remains one of his best. The concept, shifting patterns of light that shape the choreography in a myriad of eye-catching ways, give a subliminal narrative to an abstract work. The style is modern ballet; fast moving, dynamic and a joy to watch.

Iannis Teirlijnck as the male soloist held the centre with a powerful presence in addition to fierce technique. Giorgio Tinari and Takatoshi Machiyama gave strong support both in their male duet and also with female partners, Asuka Horiuchi and Silvia Simeone. But this is as much an ensemble work, and the company were well rehearsed, always in the correct spot to catch the light with the right moves. It’s a work to keep dancers on their toes and keep audiences returning to the theatre.

Subject to Change has the same draw. Franz Schubert’s popular quartet, Death and the Maiden creates a well of deep emotion that Sol León and Paul Lightfoot successfully draw on. It’s difficult to fathom the reason behind the complex framework of props and actions but the intentions are there in the total commitment of the dancers who make the work compulsive viewing.

Chiara Ruaro is the lynchpin, holding the focus both in her stillness and in her amazing movement. Her intensity rarely eases off, it just moves to another space as the mat is rolled out, swung round or rolled up. Teirlijnck is her partner, and four men manage the scene shifting. The choreographic invention is extraordinary, and the human soul is always in evidence.

For his new Bolero, Robert Bondara decided red was the colour – at least from the knees to the toes. We get a startling opening picture of a forest of upturned legs caught in a blaze of red light. Maurice Ravel’s Bolero is somehow too well known, too much used but Bondara has taken up the challenge. His ballet is not a Bolero about ego or flamenco flounces but rather an ensemble work using the whole company who barely leave the stage. Cleverly structured in a variety of patterns and forms, it holds attention. Bondara’s style of contemporary ballet particularly in duets is excitingly innovative and the repetitive rhythms give him plenty of scope

Snuck in between these three works is that little gem, Shutters Shut from Lightfoot and León to Gertrude Stein’s brilliant inscrutable poem. In sleek black and white leotards, Simeone and Tinari contorted their sinewy frames to polish and shape each facet of the extraordinary choreography. It was an immensely satisfying evening of modern works that retained and developed the classical strength of this fine young company.

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