http://dighum.uantwerpen.be/ptj/html/2006-10-27_Elkaar_dansend_besnuffelen.html

Sniffing each other while dancing: Dance > 'Couple-like' by Keren Levi and Ugo Dehaes

Dance > 'Couple-like' by KerenLeviand Ugo Dehaes

BRUSSELSl Dancing with two requires a lot of trust between the dancers. It also naturally leads to a strong physical intimacy. As if you were a couple. TheDutch-Israeli Keren Leviand Ugo Dehaes explore the thin line between appearance and reality in Couple-like.

ThroughPieter T'Jonck

Levi metDehaes when she was looking for a co-choreographer for her Faceless. Dehaes declined to sign for a project that was on its last legs. But he was open to sniffing each other out and seeing what came of it. After all, both dancers have different backgrounds. Levi comes from the formalistic tradition of modern dance, Dehaes earned his spurs atMeg Stuartand worked with, among others,Charlotte Vanden Eynde. This work raises more than just formal issues.

That sniffing resulted in Couple-like, a piece about two people pretending to be a couple. In the course of the piece, it does indeed turn out that way, but it starts differently. They get down on their knees and bring their heads together. Without their eyes meeting, they sway calmly, head to head, back and forth. Then they slide over and under each other, somersault over each other and even use each other as a climbing frame. Very acrobatic, sometimes even breathtaking dance, for example when Dehaes jumps over Levi's larynx while she hangs dangerously backwards.

This acrobatics evolves into a fully developed dance, and even ends in a waltz and a bit of swing. But they certainly don't go all out during that waltz. They grab each other's torsos, but keep their feet next to each other's. As if they can't decide whether they will become a unit, a couple. That game is also in their glances. Only quite late do they look each other deeply in the eyes. That ends in a confrontation in which blows are almost thrown.

Couple-like offersin terms of dance strong, inventive moments, but can still not always captivate. As a viewer you remain an outsider: you have no business with this encounter. That also becomes clear at the end. Half laughing the two dancers fall silent. Shrugging their shoulders they look both the audience and each other furtively. As if they want to say: this looks like a couple, but in the end it is just a dance. A very intimate dance indeed.

On October 27 and 28 in theMonty,Antwerp. Info: www.monty.be.

'Couple-like' offers strong, inventive moments in terms of dance, but cannot always captivate

n Keren Levi (l.) and Ugo Dehaes play two people who pretend to be a couple.