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In Serpent, Scarlett, who at only 27 is being picked up by classical companies around the world, goes for flowing, introspective movement that incorporates several striking images but offers little sense of purpose.

A man lifted out of a tight group, then absorbed back into it, a solo figure breaking from the pack, one still man in profile as the others move: these show Scarlett’s ability to make a fine moment, but overall the piece feels soppy, despite the men’s muscularity, aided by Max Richter’s soft-centred score that includes the sound of water falling. I thought of wafting seaweed rather than sexy dangerous snakes.

Maliphant’s Fallen uses traces of folk imagery, intimations of martial activity, and lifts and falls that have a hallucinatory quality. Michael Hulls’s lighting is a forceful character in itself and Armand Amar’s rumbling score supports the action well. [company summary]