Rambert shakes a tail feather, writes David Bellan

The biggest hit of this quadruple bill is the closing item, Christopher Bruce’s huge crowd-pleaser Rooster. It’s set to a selection of Rolling Stones numbers from the 1960s, including Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, As Tears Go By and the opener, Little Red Rooster, which sets the tone of this tribute to the strutting, vain young men of that era. Dancers almost become cockerels in this engaging piece, while a group of slinky females take part, but seem rather sceptical about this parade of the male ego.

The first work in the programme is both the most unusual and the most interesting. According to choreographer Barak Marshall, The Castaways “follows the journey of 12 souls trapped in a kind of no-man’s land, a hell of their own making”. This appears to be a large cellar.

High above the cast, the mouth of a huge chute delivers the occasional unexpected object — a bag of mail, a loaf of bread.

The characters include a dreamer, lustful Latin lovers, a jilted bride, and naive young couple. They dance out, and often shout out, their story, to a mixture of Yiddish folk music and big band numbers, often forming lines on bent knees. An attempt to catapult one girl up into the gaping chute fails; they seem to be trapped forever, and enter into a series of scenes expressing their fear, their anger, their lust or frustration. The most attractive part of this work is its music, arranged by Robert Millett.

The dancing is enjoyable, folk influenced and well executed, but it’s hard to care about this bunch.

L’Apres Midi d’un Faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) was Vaslav Nijinsky’s first choreographic work, made for the Ballets Russes in 1912. What is fascinating about this version is that it is based on Marie Rambert’s personal memories of seeing the great dancer perform it about 30 times while she worked for Diaghilev. Nijinsky created a new style of movement, asking the dancers to move as though they are in a two-dimensional frieze on a Greek urn. It’s a fascinating period piece that still comes over fresh. The faun’s advances are rejected by a nymph, and so he carries out moment of self gratification lying on top of a rock, which caused a furore at the work’s premiere. Dane Hurst is excellent in the title role, and the reproductions of Leon Bakst’s original designs look very authentic.

What Wild Ecstasy is director Mark Baldwin’s modern-day salute to Nijinsky’s piece, and what it has in common is the sexiness that pervades the work, much aided by the skimpy costumes.