Richard Alston, Robin Howard Theatre, London

New stage, old steps

Sixteen months and £7m later, The Place remains in Euston but boasts gleaming studios, offices and a theatre renamed after its founder. There is a handsomely changed foyer and bar, and plush mauve seating, but otherwise stage and auditorium look much the same. The Richard Alston Dance Company, which as resident company launched the new era, looks pretty much the same too, not so much in its dancers, as in the four pieces it performed. Whether it was 1994's Lachrymae or Water Music, specially created for the occasion, we had seen it all from Alston many times before: the same dense stream of steps, the same entries and exits, the same dutiful matching of the music, the same solemn earnestness. Without the different scores and costumes it would have been hard to tell one piece from the other and the monotony became fatal.

Yet the evening had started so well. Soda Lake, created 20 years ago, stands out as unique, firstly because it is a rare solo, secondly because it features a monumental, two-part sculpture. Located within Nigel Hall's stark giant hoop and heavy suspended rod, the dancer becomes the third component, with her own lean, black-clad geometries. Now she lies still and calm on the floor, now she flashes into runs and jumps. I found the choreography most satisfying when the thread between dancer and sculpture remains intact, and she does not break free. But either way, the focus is intense, heightened by an immense, vibrating silence, and Amanda Weaver's control and clarity were excellent.

But then came Lachrymae, to Britten's variations, Water Music (Handel) and another new piece, Strange Company which interprets Schumann's Davidsbündlertanze. Three individuals represent Clara (Schumann's wife), Florestan and Eusebius (characters imagined by Schumann, representing the two sides of his personality). Patricia Hines, with her precise, inflected articulateness was riveting, as was Jason Piper's sharply volatile Florestan. But with so many steps and repetitive entries and exits, the subtext becomes swamped.

Anger and sorrow are embedded in the busy dancing of Lachrymae, while the movement of Water Music has a courtly manner to suit the music. In a different context each piece might have had a favour-able impact, but they killed each other with their similarities. Alston's obedience to the music becomes wearingly predictable, when divergence would stoke up interest. The lack of interesting group patterns pitches the overall pictures into blandness. Time for a break with old habits; time for a creative overhaul to match the new Place.

Touring to 29 November