HOW many times have you commented that air travel is really no fun any more? Dutch choreographer Emma Evelein has captured the fear, tension, vulnerability and apprehension of travellers in her brilliant Gallery of Consequence, one of a double bill performed by Rambert dancers for the current tour, and on stage at Bath until Saturday 8th November.

Depicting the various attitudes, self-concious walks, exhaustion, hissy fits, lethargy, aggression and fears of passengers and staff, it brilliantly incorporates street dance with intense, sometimes humorous story-telling, at the same time as providing characters with whom all of us can identify, or at least recognise. And all the time the rolling departures board underlines not only the passing of time but the various emotions of the travellers.

The second half of the programme, danced at alternate performances by varying numbers of the 15-strong company, is Johan Inger’s B.R.I.S.A., based on the Spanish word for breeze and set to songs by Nina Simone and a new composition by Amos Ben-Tal. The shiny airport floor is covered by thick carpet and the dancers cover the space in teeny-tiny steps, heads down and insignificant, until their moment in the limelight and the gusting breezes that (literally) throw their inhibitions to the wind, allowing them to explore encounters and intimacies that may shape their futures.

This double bill is visually arresting, exciting and keeps the audience on the edges of their seats. There are many times when the influence of the late great Pina Bausch is vividly evident, as the tiny vignettes of life emerge from repetitive motion, and each glancing touch and furtive approach illuminates a whole potential story.

See Kismet if you can.

GP-W