The BalletBoyz originally became a sensation in 1999 thanks to a Channel 4 documentary which followed them in their post-Royal Ballet lives, leading to their creation of George Piper Dances, which is best known these days as BalletBoyz. Ten years later, they decided to seek out their next generation of dancers, with a widely-publicised audition process, selecting untrained dancers and a whole new repertoire to show off contemporary dance's answer to boy bands. In 2011, the current lineup and repertoire was launched, and this is the second year of touring for The Talent - and the sold-out performances go to show what a huge success they've become.

The first piece of the night was Torsion, originally created by Russell Maliphant for Michael Nunn and William Trevitt in 2002, and adapted seamlessly for six dancers. Torsion starts dramatically, with a single dancer moving powerfully in a dimly-lit square of light. As the section progresses, other dancers are revealed briefly in their own squares of light before fading to black. Sometimes the dancers are synchronised, sometimes they're in their own world.

Torsion appears to be a declaration of the dancers' masculinity: much of the work is a series of feats of strength. Many of the duets are in the form of brief encounters which resemble trust games as the dancers shift their weight and fall against each other, even carry each other on their shoulders, or carry their partner and aim him at the audience like a gun. Occasional solos demonstrate the dancers' range, ability and technique; one astounding solo sees Miguel Esteves pirouetting around the stage again and again on his knees - but due to the dim lighting, it's hard to see who he is.  

In comparison to the high testosterone of Torsion, Alpha by Paul Roberts is a sweet fluid work whose whimsy was matched by Keaton Henson's singer-songwriter accompaniment. There are many things to love about Alpha, from the haunting acoustic music to the lovely movements by the dancers in group sections alongside solos. It's not as overtly masculine as Torsion but still physically demanding and challenging while reminding of us what to appreciate most in contemporary dance. As a friend said afterwards, "it's like falling in love slowly".

The showpiece of the evening was Jarek Cemerek's Void, the result of a choreographic search by Nunn and Trevitt in 2010. Void's edgy urban feel was established from the start with a video projection of youths in hoodies wandering around an inner-city landscape. Once the dancers appear onstage, their stance is confrontational, performing aggressive solos; while the dancers performed with a sense of teamwork in Torsion and Alpha, the dancers appear disconnected and isolated from each other yet remaining perfectly in sync. When the fight scene arrives, it's carried out with lifts, cartwheels and lunges; at one point, there are BalletBoyz flying all over the stage!

The Talent is an excellent showcase of the dancers' abilities through a diverse range of works, presenting the company as very slick and self-confident and full of promise for the future ahead. Let's see what they do next.... !