Two Quartets, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Siobhan Davies goes in for sensitive detail and delicate gesture. Watching her choreography, I've often wanted something less polite. Just as I thought that about Two Quartets, her new work, the dancer Henry Montes started swearing. Be careful what you wish for.

In Two Quartets, which comes to the South Bank as part of Dance Umbrella, Davies sets up a pair of contrasting dances. The first is built around patterns, with dancers walking, running and working together. The second has plenty of solo work, built around the idea of emotion. There's still plenty of politeness about.

The first quartet is deliberately abstract. Matteo Fargion's soundtrack includes speech, apparently describing the musical or danced action: "Off we go!", "Tchaikovsky", "Two notes, piano". Costumes, by fashion designer Jonathan Saunders, are dyed in bands of black and white. Sam Collins's set puts the action on a large white square, with another hanging overhead.

The dancers stride on in a line, changing places or dashing into fanned patterns. There is welcome boldness here, with some strength and speed to the dancers' movements. Even so, the piece lacks momentum. Davies plays with patterns, but she doesn't build much rhythmic contrast.

For the second quartet, four white panels are set up, becoming transparent or opaque with changes in Adrian Plaut's lighting. Davies uses her second cast of four as individuals. Deborah Saxon keeps strolling across the stage without a glance at the audience. Pari Naderi appears and reappears from behind the panels. Sarah Warsop winds her arms in curves, fingers fluttering – we're back to familiar Davies territory.

Montes, the one man, is the only person to use non-dance material. He speaks, and even scribbles on the floor. Dancing, he often looks pointedly uneasy, folding his long body into a crouch or turning his back.

If the first quartet avoids obvious dance material, the second has its emotions turned in. The dancers are thinking about feeling, rather than expressing it. Even Montes' burst of swearing is moderately spoken. There may be plenty of ideas in Two Quartets, but this withdrawn work puts few of them on stage.