If the celebrated Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio were still alive, he would have loved the ballet Constance, performed at Argotti Gardens, Floriana, on Monday.

Either that or he would have sued them for copyright infringement as the sinuous frames of the dancers moving music by Philip Glass were accentuated against the dark background, evoking the artist's mastery of the chiaroscuro technique.

Based on D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, the ballet, choreographed by Julien Lestel, explored the story in three parts, with each character in the love story being played by different dancers.

The dance company La Compagnie Julien Lestel says the ballet symbolises the route of human beings from isolation to openness to self and others and, thus, has a universal dimension.

Combining graceful movements into dainty passages, other more savage and forceful, and suggestive scenes, the ballet explored the different facets of human emotion, aided in no small part by the clever lighting, which accompanied by the music made for a feast for the senses.

The ballet formed part of the Malta Arts Festival.