Aterballetto, the Italian contemporary ballet company, delighted the audience at its opening night with a programme of three stylistically different works choreographed by artistic director Mauro Bigonzetti.

Bigonzetti constructs unconventional and acrobatic bodily shapes from the dancers' limbs. The opening work, Les Noces, set to Stravinsky's awesome score, has a central couple representing the bride and groom, a secondary couple and a supporting black-clad ensemble. The groom first dances on a long silver table, followed by other dancers performing a succession of numbers, including solos and duets. The movements are mostly sharp, angular and aggressive. The final duet for the bride and groom is unusually tense, as if both are dreading the solemn ceremony.

The second, shorter work, Pression, is for four dancers and explores the contrast between the sexes. It consists of two same-sex duets before the final resolution into a quartet when they regroup into two mixed couples.

The almost naked male duet is slightly shocking at first, with some unusual and witty physical shapes formed by the entangled limbs of the two dancers. An apt contrast is provided by a soothing female duet with the two women dancing gracefully in unison.

The final work, Rossini Cards, is a gorgeous and exhilarating comical work. It begins with a man leaping into the orchestra pit, a move magnified at the end when every dancer in the cast does the same before curtain fall.

Bigonzetti is masterly in creating joyous phrases with simple movements. The glorious finale, with nothing but running steps for all the dancers, is a breathtaking tour de force, illuminating Bigonzetti's choreographic style.