"Pushing at boundaries" is a phrase that makes the heart sink. Not because boundaries shouldn't be pushed, as they obviously should be and often are, but because those who say it rarely do it. That's pretty much the deal with Rafael Bonachela, the Barcelona-born former Rambert dancer who won the first Place choreography prize in 2004 before setting up his own troupe two years later.
He also created the shimmy-shake for Kylie's 2002 Brit Awards appearance, which did his youth cred a crate of favours.
In the programme for Square Map of Q4 (a title that references the floor design which is a map of emotions in four quarters), he makes ambitious claims about dance boundaries, then fails to push them.
Bonachela's style is hard, fast and athletic - the choreographic equivalent of a muscle car. His six dancers stretch into extreme splits and high extensions then arch their backs and spread their legs followed by exaggerated torsions and anguished stares.
The mood is club surfer-meets-S&M after-party, with writhing on the dance floor and unspeakable things in cubicles.
If you haven't seen or done this sort of thing before, it looks wildly daring but for everyone else it is dull, dated fare. Square Map is both busy and slight, like watching an aerobics class with over-complicated lighting and projections, and music that polite people used to call a racket.
8 February only. Information: 0871 663 2500, www.southbankcentre.co.uk.
Rafael Bonachela
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Southbank Centre, London, SE1 8XX
