Three years ago, when David Bintley choreographed Nutcracker Sweeties to Duke Ellington's jazzed up version of Tchaikovsky, he and designer Jasper Conran came up with a brash party piece that's been an audience favourite ever since.
Now to mark the composer's 100th anniversary Bintley has returned to Ellington for The Shakespeare Suite. And this time he's choreographed more than a raunchy crowd pleaser, he's produced a witty, literate piece of dance whose invention keeps exuberant pace with the dramatic and musical range of the score (Such Sweet Thunder and assorted pieces).
Bintley works again with Conran and with stage designer Steve Scott and between them the ideas have clearly been fizzing. The Hamlet section is full of late 50s existentialists dressed in black, and as we watch the dancers' limp-wristed, sharp-shouldered moves we're not only reminded of a generic era of hep-cat slang and posturing intellectuals we're also transported to the Astaire-Hepburn movie Funny Face.
In his Midsummer Night's Dream duet, Bintley pays homage to Ashton by having Titania wear an almost identical wig to the ballerina in Ashton's Dream, and make an identical entrance riding on Bottom's back while his Romeo and Juliet sneaks some swooning echos of MacMillan's ballet.
The choreography is also full of nifty references to the plays and it is aided by some stunning design conceits. For instance Macbeth's daggers-drawn solo is danced on a stage that's steeped in blood-red light, and his crown is sculpted with gel from his own flaming orange hair, as if the fires of hell were bursting from his head. Othello meanwhile sports a fabulous set of dreadlocks, going a distinguished grey at the temples. The dancers dive into their roles with delicious brio - and in the final dance when they briefly swap partners, our brains are reeling from the implications of seeing Bottom paired off with Lady Macbeth and Titania coupled with Richard II.
The piece (accompanied at glorious throttle by the Echoes of Ellington band) forms part of a jazz programme with the Nutcracker Sweeties and BRB's new revival of Balanchine's Slaughter on 10th Avenue. This little gangster ballet was choreographed in 1936 as part of the musical On your Toes, and BRB have infectious fun with its Keystone Cops chases, perky bottomed tarts, hoofers and hoodlums. Kate Ford's new designs steer a smart line between period style and novelty and the dancers (especially David Justin on Thursday afternoon) get most of the American vernacular right. Justin and Leaticia Muller as the stripper, do though look a tad clean living for their roles. This is a ballet for dancers to get low-down and filthy.
• Touring: Theatre Royal Plymouth, October 15-16 (01752 267222); Sunderland Empire Theatre October 22-23 (0191-514 2517); Bradford Alhambra October 29-30 (01274 752672)
