Think of Italy and you think of opera, all fiery divas and tenors ripping the arias out of each other. It's a nation where dance has been very much the poor relation in the battle for artistic attention. But if there's any justice, the striking Compagnia Aterballetto should change all that.
Though they've been going the best part of three decades, Aterballetto are all but unknown in Britain. Yet the double bill that makes up their Sadler's Wells season reveals a vibrantly individual outfit with a distinctly Italian take on modern dance.
It's the second half that sparks the night into life with the free-wheeling Cantata evoking the giddy whiff of a vino-fuelled street party. As the dancers reel through duets, solos and group gatherings, the stage crackles with feel-good spontaneity.
Key to creating the atmosphere are the strolling musicians who weave through the action. The Gruppo Musicale Assurd's impassioned interpretations of Italian folk songs gives Cantata a mood that ebbs and flows from tormented ballad to Neapolitan knees-up.
If the opening Les Noces wears its influences more obviously on its sleeve, then choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti has chosen well. There are hints of Jiri Kylian and Pina Bausch but Bigonzetti carves his own name on the heart of a night that's hugely enjoyable. Keith Watson
Until Sat, Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue EC1, 7.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm, £10 to £38. Tel: 020 7863 8000. www.sadlerswells.com Tube: Angel
Compagnia Aterballetto: Double Bill (Les Noces/Cantata)
