The company arrived at the Wycombe Swan last week with three new works, the first, Tread Softly, by Henri Oguike, receiving its premiere there.

Music has always been at the heart of Oguike’s work, and here he has chosen Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet. The composer, like many early romantics, was fascinated by mortality and the mystery of death, and while Oguike has not been specific as to what he is showing us, the recurring theme of dancers lying prostrate with a partner stepping on to them seems to hint at the work’s title. But there is nothing moribund about the choreography, with a speedy opening and a series of slow, beautiful dances to the extended variations of the second movement. There is an erotic quality too in the women’s swivelling hips. Among the ten dancers Malgorzata Dzierzon and Miguel Altunaga were outstanding.

Reams have been written about Darwin’s anniversary this year, and about Mark Baldwin’s tribute to the great man, The Comedy of Change. Baldwin has worked with scientific advisors to bring us a work that mirrors – to some extent – the development of creatures. It opens intriguingly with seven white chrysalises on the stage. To Julian Anderson’s plonky, squeaky music the dancers emerge to make reference to the various qualities required for survival. Their body-stockings are black at the back, white at the front, giving them, and the work, a constantly changing feel. One dancer later becomes a chrysalis again, as he is wrapped in aluminium foil and then magically disappears. A rather laboured labour of love.

Finally came Christopher Bruce’s Hush, a marvellous, sad, funny, quirky piece about a family of travelling players, whom we meet for a few minutes on a journey that seems to go from nowhere to nowhere. Theatrical, entertaining and moving.

Rambert Dance Company is at Sadlers Wells from November 3-7, and at the Royal Derngate, Northampton, from December 2-4.