Elegant rigour meets sensual cheek Nederlands Dans Theatre. Picture: Prue Upton DANCE Nederlands Dans Theater, Sydney, June 12 THERE are few companies as glamorous as Nederlands Dans Theater, hence the excitement with which it is greeted by audiences. The dancers are sensual, sophisticated, muscular and theatrically and emotionally alert. In their bodies the elegant rigour of classicism meets and melts into contemporary movement of a particularly assertive kind. Add the attendant celebrity of NDT's most powerful - we may even say overpowering - influence, choreographer Jiri Kylian, and you have an explosive mix. It was recently revealed, by the way, that Kylian will withhold his works from NDT for three years from late next year. Not to punish but to challenge, as current NDT artistic director and resident choreographer Paul Lightfoot puts it. On the evidence of this Sydney program - half Kylian, half Lightfoot and his co-choreographer Sol Leon - the hole left will be great and the challenge will be to see what NDT is without Kylian. Tough love indeed. Two of Kylian's famous black and white dances, both made in 1990, open the program. In Sweet Dreams (1990) squares and rectangles of light fade in and out to reveal mysterious actions and interactions. To Anton Webern's clamorous and astringent Sechs Stucke fur orchester, women sit on men's backs, heads, feet; arms are widely spread and angled as if for flight; a couple is spied on high in the distance; apples are walked on, chased or stop up gaping mouths. What it means is up to you and your subconscious. Sarabande follows without pause. It's an aggressive, mostly unison piece for six men who groan, shout, slap and generally flaunt their masculinity although at times are hobbled or challenged by it. It goes without saying they look spectacular. After these the Lightfoot-Leon pieces looked lightweight and, in the case of SH-BOOM! (a 2000 revision of an earlier, shorter piece), tiresome. I found it as amusing as a self-appendectomy except for a sweet nude dance from Cesar Faria Fernandes lit only by flashlight. It ends with a cheeky, boyish pull of the penis, which perhaps doesn't sound like the greatest of moments but in this context it counts as genius; a human touch among the laboured schtick. Shoot the Moon (2006) is an attractively staged little psycho-drama much enhanced by Philip Glass's lovely Tirol Concerto for piano and orchestra. Revolving walls reveal two couples in various states of anguish and a solo man, also anguished. It says nothing more than that people have emotional issues, but does it stylishly. The plush, committed dancing was a treat, with Wednesday's cast including former Australian Ballet principal artist Danielle Rowe, who looked divine. DANCE Nederlands Dans Theater, Sydney, June 12 Tickets: $39-$146. Ends on Saturday.