Over the stage and into the auditorium at the Sydney Opera House a flurry of tiny white messages fell from above. Every slip of paper was imprinted “Life Could Be A Dream”. The words referred to the lyrics of a novelty song, one that inspired Nederlands Dans Theater’s audience pleaser, titled SH-BOOM! But the elusive message – could our lives really be just a series of dreams? – applied to the quartet of works the company presented in its Sydney season.

Each of the four expressed some aspect of our familiar dreams, of losing, falling, chasing, hoping, or embracing, and each began with the letter S. Sweet Dreams, danced to Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra, was replete with the trademarks of the choreographer, Jiri Kylián – floor slides, manipulation of the women by the men, arms stretched to the side like a clam about to close on its prey, side lighting casting a golden glow, and the simple, yet powerful, idea of a carried prop – dozens of green apples signifying sin, not in a threatening way but as in a dream we don’t like to recount.

Kylián’s Sarabande is pure testosterone – six men sprawled under the domes of bodyless...