Thus begins Yvonne Meier’s “Strega Nona,” about a pair of lovers brought together by a matchmaker whose intentions, whether mischievous or manipulative, seem questionable. For 45 minutes the couple runs the gamut of behaviors, while the matchmaker, Meier herself, pops balloons from a perch in a shadowy corner of the stage. With humor that veers to slapstick, and spectacular dancing by Osmani Tellez and Lisa Kusanagi, “Strega Nona” is a master class on the influences that have defined Meier’s 40 year, Bessie award-winning career: improvisation, release technique, and Authentic Movement. 

The dancers/lovers recover from the slapping to begin a new section in which Tellez guides Kusanagi as if she’s a puppet animated by his touch. The music has shifted to something choral. At the moment when Tellez sits on Kusanagi’s back, pop! We hear the first balloon explode. Kusanagi climbs onto Tellez to cling like a backpack. Pop! He crawls underneath her and together they tumble. Pop! Do the popped balloons signal a change? A time marker? Appreciation? There is a finite number, strung in a column from floor to ceiling as a sculptural set piece. The implication is that all will be spent by end of show.

Love at its obsessive worst is funny in Meier’s hands. The premise is simple, the jokes are not subtle. Even the balloon popping starts to feel like a gimmick. What makes “Strega Nona” work is the mastery of the two dancers. Their movement is vigorous and fluid, full out physical, and free of formal technique. Think sand on the beach, dragged and returned by the tide. Or maybe bean bag dolls, the way their limbs empty and fill as they’re tossed about. Tellez and Kusanagi take each prompt/activity and push it to the limit. By the end, Tellez’s hair is dripping wet from exertion.