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Well I was there and I wasn't in a slough of despond at all, though true to say I wasn't won over wall to wall either. The evening starts with the crowd-pleasing Nutcracker Sweeties, though I can't see this without thinking of the original casts as younger BRB dancers inherit roles. Monica Zamora (a guest just for this autumn programme) was however back as Sugar Rum Cherry and to see her sultry, slow walk and 'shushhh' to us all is surely worth the ballet alone. Nao Sakuma as Arabesque Cookie and Jamie Bond as the Peanut Officer also looked at home and having fun.

Three years after creating Sweeties Bintley raided the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn cannon again, in 1999, for The Shakespeare Suite - 7 takes on Shakespeare characters. More thoughtful and reflective than Sweeties but I still enjoy the easy laughs the most - not least wild-kicking Carol-Anne Millar as Kate complete with wedding dress and rebellious Converse All Star boots. And then there was Michael Kopinski's slithery, Onassis-like Richard III and James Grundy's daft if good-natured Bottom. As with Sweeties the Jasper Conran costumes are a marvellous inspiration - black kilts have never looked so good. I've warmed to this piece.

The premiere and evening closer was The Orpheus Suite, a serious work based on the Orpheus and Eurydice story and (for Bintley) picking up on some Duke Ellington parallels. The 45 minute piece however is to a specially commissioned score from Colin Towns - an altogether harder and more bombastic piece of Jazz than the Duke's pieces - stretching and very loud at times but never less than interesting. The plot of Orpheus rescuing Eurydice and then looking back is actually more complex than most of us appreciate and I can't pretend I followed it all from just watching. Easy to spot Hades with its vacant, scantily-clad blondes and the performances from Parker (Orpheus) and Tiit Helimets (Apollo) were commandingly 'big'. The 'find' of the evening for me though was Elisha Willis (Eurydice), who has recently joined the company from Australian Ballet, a wonderfully smooth and assured dancer and actress.

The other good thing about Orpheus is the lighting and sets of Steve Scott. Really the lighting IS the set with the dancers performing much of the time in front of light panels that change colour from vivid red to the subtlest of greys. They also move to create unexpected entrances and exits and the overall spectacle carries you through a piece that is perhaps too long unless you know the story. Overall it's a pleasant night of good dancing and inspired modern design but next up for BRB is a mixed bill which I'm really looking forward to - variety being the spice of life 'n' all.