All the zing and dash of youth, and all the sleek, honed technical assurance that many older, more experienced dancers strive in vain to achieve NDT2, the “youth wing” of Nederlands Dans Theater, combines both. And whereas some companies might seize on the age range – NDT2 recruits are between 17 and 23 – to go for cute’n’cheerful repertoire, the Dutch choose works that demand thoughtful interpretation as well as finesse across choreographic styles.

Lucky Inverness, the only Scottish tour date, saw two UK premieres. Offspring (2009), by Lukas Timulak, was a response to the imminent birth of his first child. Imaginative lighting, the occasional squishy thruppings of a foetal heartbeat and brief glimpses – like an ultrasound scan – of a pale form “swimming” in a womb of laser-defined light gave a narrative thread. What impressed most, however, was Timuluk’s ability to shape lyrical dance full of joy, wonderment, even hints of panic without slopping over into mawkish sentimentality. Duets and ensembles echoed the interactions of couples, and of procreating cells, in ways that encompassed not just the making of a child but also the making of a new work.

Jiri Kylian’s Gods and Dogs (2008) explored a darker side of human experience, though again the encounters between male and female figures that hinted at tussles with inner demons could also be seen as the creative artist’s battle to make work in an obstructive society. Edgy, intense, Kylian’s shifts of mood and dynamic resonated with recognisable uncertainties, yearnings, despair and resilience. After this, Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 had just a whisper of poignancy amid the crowd-pleasing fun and frolics, as if the dancers’ individual voices echoed our own need to be seen and heard. Saturday’s standing ovation was thoroughly deserved.