The latest group of The Talent certainly lived up to its name in a programme of two contrasting, but equally fascinating works.

Interestingly, like the founders Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, both of the evening’s choreographers came originally from The Royal Ballet.

However the intention is clearly to move into contemporary dance. Liam Scarlett is only 26, but has already made a considerable reputation as a choreographer. His piece Serpent is a work of sustained, flowing beauty.

It’s danced in the contemporary manner with bare feet, and in very skimpy costumes which were received with much excitement by the predominantly female audience. It opens and closes with the dancers lying on the floor.

First one, then many arms rise up, like a bevy of snakes awakening. And a fine awakening it is; with no women in the cast it’s men lifting men, men swooping and flowing, mainly in pairs, and often with one of each pair very much dominant. There is a lot of work on the floor too, but Scarlett has made a piece that seems to develop of its own will, with complex formations easily achieved to excerpts from Max Richter’s Memoryhouse.

Russell Maliphant’s Fallen is a very different kettle of fish. Here there is an industrial feel, with the dancers in work clothes, and the theatre stripped to reveal the black bricks and fire-extinguishers of the backstage area.

The pulsating score is by Armand Amar. The work is inspired by an earlier piece, Broken Fall, which Maliphant made in 2003 for Michael Nunn and William Trevitt and the legendary Sylvie Guillem. This was full of dangerous throws and lifts, and Maliphant has created something similar, though with few references to the original work, for the cast of 10 young dancers.

There is a choreographed fight, and hints at relationships, in a brooding, sullen atmosphere, in which some exciting and often dangerous dance takes place.

These are two excellent pieces which together form a varied and satisfying evening.

BalletBoyz: The Talent is at The Everyman, Cheltenham, on February 24, and The Wyvern, Swindon, on March 8.