"Gutsy", "poetic", "mysterious", and "inventive" are just some of the words critics in London, U.K. are using to describe Ballet BC, which launched its European tour with a program of all-female choreographers there last night.

The company debuted a triple bill of Crystal Pite's snow-dusted Solo Echo, Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar's gyrating, alien-primal Bill, and artistic director Emily Molnar's en pointe 16 + a room.

"Not a seat to be had at Sadler’s Wells this week where Ballet British Columbia was making its London debut with a trio of contemporary works by Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal and artistic director Emily Molnar," the Financial Times reported.

The Independent was the most effusive about the performance, its critic describing the "gorgeous energy" of the troupe. "The dancers have both individuality and shared muscular strength," the review today reads, adding Pite's work is "superb" and "spare but lush".

The Telegraph raved about the "stunning" performers: "if Canada has a finer clutch of dancers, I’d love to see them." It singled out Pite's work for particular praise, citing it as "probably the main reason many people in the audience were there on Tuesday’s opening night": "This is dance that feels profoundly aware of the fragility of the human condition, but which also radiates optimism in our ability to improve our own and others’ lot."

The Times of London was slightly less impressed, calling the program "sombre and gloomy", but commending the all-female lineup--"a good idea, considering how little exposure women dancemakers get in an art form dominated by men."

After another show tonight at Sadler's Wells in London, the troupe takes the performance to Brighton Dome March 9, then Newcastle's Theatre Royal on March 13 and 14, the Birmingham Hippodrome on March 16 and 17, the Lowry in Salford on March 20 and 21, the Alhambra in Bradford on March 23 and 24, and then the Movimentos Festival at Kraftwerk in Wolfsburg, Germany from April 5 to 7.