This year’s contemporary program from the Australian Ballet is a little incongruent. With no obvious thematic rationale – not even variety – the triple bill impresses on some fronts, but not all.

Dyad 1929. Photograph © Jeff Busby

Opening the evening is Wayne McGregor’s ground-breaking work from 2006, Chroma, which seeks to reveal the invisible through a process of subtraction. At first, this seems contrary to the frenetic concoction of movement thrust forward by the dancers. Hyperextended lines, diving torsos and tilted turns erupt in nauseating waves, pushed by the music of indie rock duo The White Stripes.

But closer inspection reveals total restraint. McGregor has been careful to choreograph no more movement than is necessary. As a counterpoint to the smooth white box in which the dance unfolds (design by John Pawson), the bodies articulate with clinical, near alien, precision.

Or at least that’s the intention. McGregor’s impossibly complex material, littered with unorthodox lifts and quick-fire sequences, sat uneasily on the ensemble. Save for a few standout performances by principals Brett Chynoweth and Amy Harris, who both embodied the challenging movement with total confidence, the company lacked the attack and cool precision demanded of...