Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker: Fase

Steve Reich's musical compositions are deceptively simple in their repetition, but spend a while with them and you soon discover a structure that offers infinite possibility. And so it goes with Belgian choreographer Anne Theresa De Keersmaeker's "Fase," a duet that delves into Reich's works with such rigorous intent that the bodies onstage seem to meld fast with the rhythms, creating a single entity of music and motion. The dancers swirl in ever-expanding circles, maneuver through complex gestural phrases, manipulate their shadows. Form is everything, it seems, at least at first, until the energy and flow generated by the performers suggest something else entirely: a sort of beauty one notices in nature when leaves pull back in the breeze or ripples skip across the water. "Fase" was created 25 years ago, and gave De Keersmaeker's career a boost, but it remains relevant and revelatory in the 21st century.
Feb. 7-9, 8 p.m., 2008