Merce Cunningham, Barbican Theatre, London

I had more pleasure from Merce Cunningham's new work Fluid Canvas, premiered to open his London season, than from any of his other recent creations. This is because the others not only used computer programs in their making, but they seemed to me to show it in their robotic look. This time Cunningham has overcome that, producing something nearer to his old, free style of composition.

You can see that in the movement, which contains more of the quick, tripping steps that are distinctively his, and in the structure too, where still groupings are interrupted by incursions of other dancers. The ballet uses the full company of 16, but only occasionally as an ensemble. More often, even when several are working together, there is an interesting contrast or oppos- ition in their movements. Pointless to try to describe the action; it has to be experienced.

As customary with Cunningham, dance, music and design go their separate ways. James Hall's tight-fitting costumes, mostly a greeny-blue offset by some in purple, make the cast look handsome. The other elements are perhaps not as successful. John King's music (which has its own title, "longtermparking") makes patterns of clicks and buzzings. Three computer artists, Marc Downie, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser, collaborated on the busy background projections which are abstracted to mostly hide the fact that they are adapted from Cunningham's hand.

The other work on this programme, Interscape, dating from 2001, utilises two of the choreographer's old collaborators. John Cage's score One8 is an attractive cello solo played by Audrey Riley; we are told that an alternative orchestral piece for 108 players is available, or a concerto of both versions simultaneously, but somehow I don't see a touring dance company often be able to run to such resources.

Robert Rauschenberg's backdrop, also seen initially as a semi-transparent front cloth with dancing behind it, is an amplified painting with a mushroom (possibly a tribute to Cage, who collected them), parts of a reclining woman and what I take to be a colourful unicorn, fragments of buildings and other less identifiable objects, arranged collage-style. Too striking perhaps; it seduced my eye from the dances more than Rauschenberg's active presence did in days gone by. But the patterned tights he designed are great.

Interscape contains a highly inventive duet, full of unbalances; the choreography otherwise is full of quasi-balletic steps, especially jumps. While individually sometimes exciting, they didn't grab me as a total pattern, although they were very decently performed.

A warning: the Barbican theatre's wide auditorium does not always provide ideal sightlines for a choreographer who extends his movements often right to the edges of the stage.