This is Rambert, Edinburgh review: 'How could anything be better than this?'

Hop(e)storm is nothing short of mind-blowing (Picture: Hugo Glendinning)

This is Rambert, Edinburgh Festival Theatre ★★★★★

A century after Marie Rambert took the bold decision to start Britain’s first dance company, it’s not hyperbole to say the company is looking better than ever. Rambert has undergone many transitions over the past 100 years, changing styles (ballet to contemporary), buildings (most recently to their swish home on London’s South Bank) and, of course, countless different artistic directors, dancers and choreographers.

Watching them on the Festival Theatre stage during their This is Rambert tour, you’d be inclined to think they’d peaked. How could anything be better than this? But pushing themselves, and at boundaries, is the Rambert way – and when they arrive back in Edinburgh next June with It’s a Sin, they may well have outdone themselves yet again.

The current triple-bill compounds Rambert’s reputation for staging accessible (but never dumbed down) works, performed with remarkable skill. In Crimson by Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber takes place entirely in front of the stage curtain. Accompanied by a live pianist, the dancers are in both combative and flirtatious mode, almost animal-like in their quest to find a mate. Sharp, witty, beautifully executed, and with a cracking score, it sets the scene for what lies ahead.

Combining the athleticism of American partner dance Lindy Hop with the hypnotic, beat-driven atmosphere of a rave, Hop(e)storm is nothing short of mind-blowing. Every jump, arm grab, leg kick, and turn is done with such absolute precision, you start to consider giving up blinking, for fear of missing the next brilliant step. Created by multidisciplinary collective (LA)HORDE, this energetic, relentlessly nimble work, rooted in community, will surely go down in Rambert history.

Finally, what a treat to see Emma Evelein’s wonderfully stylised piece, Gallery of Consequence again, after it premiered in Edinburgh last year. As before, this thought-provoking and poignant work, set in an airport departure lounge, brought down the house.