It’s fitting that Merce Cunningham should open Dance Umbrella. The veteran innovator (he’s 90 in April) was ever inspiration to the annual dance event, which, with the Barbican, has invited Cunningham’s troupe to perform two mixed bills. The first revealed a less familiar side to his work.

Crises from 1960 is shorter and funnier than Biped (1999) and Xover (2007). Its dancers seem sharper and more engaged and that gives the piece a compact humour that’s a pleasure to watch.

It may be that back in 1960 ­Cunningham had less time and money and had to do things quickly. This concentrated his energy into a style that Biped and Xover don’t have. They actually feel ­­
po-faced and over-long, leaden even, next to the nimble, slyly humorous Crises.

This is a work for five dancers, pleasing in citrus-hued unitards, who weave and pattern about the stage. One woman walks very slowly and very precisely on her toes, then another spins around a man while holding his elasticated belt. At one point she looks like she might yank it off.

It’s not belly-laugh humour but ­Cunningham is playing with ideas of shape and motion, of low-cost props, and what it’s like to be and dress like a dancer.

Next to this, Xover is stern stuff. Cunningham deploys his body geometry in rigorous patterns, with 12 dancers anonymous to the point of bleakness.

The backdrop, by long-time collaborator Robert Rauschenberg, is road-sign chic and the unitards this time in white. Music is an overlaying of two John Cage works, which provided a little larky contrast to an über-earnest work.

More engaging is Biped, a piece that combines signature Cunningham moves with film projections of his dancers in motion capture.

Nearly a decade ago it seemed an innovative use of computer graphics but these evolve at a dizzying pace, and Biped’s effects now look dated. The 12 dancers move ­strikingly on their own but fare less well when synchronising their moves. Some are excellent, although I should report that ­others struggled with the steps.
Prog 1, until 2 October. Prog 2, 3&4 October. Information: 0845 121 6823, www.barbican.org.uk