The men tilt backwards awkwardly, tripping along on the balls of their feet. The women distort their faces, pulling their noses up and lips down into obscene slits.
The bizarre side of human physicality fascinates Belgian choreographer Jan De Schynkel. His new work for his talented company, Bark Dance Productions, pushes movement in surreal directions. Bodies are twisted, flung and swung into improbable contortions.
Now Blind Yourself is a multimedia work featuring art installation, theatre, ballet and contemporary dance. Just the dance section was shown in Leeds. It is a compelling mix of balletic beauty and off-the-wall grotesquerie.
Sharply danced to the tolling bells and wild harpsichord of a Gorecki score, the piece gets its name from Pirandello's take on lust. Man, the beast, shuts his eyes to pretend it doesn't exist. Women, desiring men but ashamed, close their eyes as if to say: "I am blind, now blind yourself."
A girl answers an advert to read to an old blind man. But the exercise turns into a form of mental sexual abuse. This seems to be mirrored in the dance, with a recurring image of the women, sickened, sticking fingers in their mouths and retching. The men dominate, grabbing the women and swinging them back and forth between their legs.
De Schynkel describes his style as visceral; movements stem from inner turmoil and basic instinct. His sets are visually challenging, too. Here four lozenge-shaped fluorescent lights hang down, their filaments like vertebrae, while the black backdrop is covered in silver door handles.
Slow and classical, with expansive arabesques and flowing arms, or strobe-fast and punishing, this is an extraordinary creation that brings a provocative new language to contemporary dance.
De Schynkel has also reworked She Is as He Eats, his arresting look at couples in the bondage of relationships, and it is stronger than ever. The dancers stream across stage on leashes of white fabric like horizontal bungee jumpers. Wen Chun Tang is remarkable as an abused wife at the end of her tether, eventually breaking free.
