Later that same day, I see “Palingenesis” from D_Antidote Production, choreographed by Po-Hsiang Chuang. The lights come up on three nearly nude, collapsed figures lying on their backs, their knees fallen to one side. All the dancers wear a skin-coloured mask, whose mouth is pulled into a grimace and the eyes large and criss-crossed with wide slits. Are these figures humans, gods, resuscitated mummies, aliens?

From this prone position, “Palingenesis’” choreographic drive is one of constant mutation. Tightly joined together, the dancers morph through different connections, evolving then regressing as they lift up, straddle, or pull each other down. They move through inversions as though their bodies don’t obey gravity in the same way as we do. When they do break apart, we have some fun. Their strutting bodies perform surprising ripples through their hips, and the picked-up energy in their movement is matched by an increase in pace in the music, as though these creatures are navigating a new world.

What sets “Palingenesis” apart is how well Chuang knows how the human body can fold. He explores the body’s malleable capacity to surprise you and create unexpected choreographic beats; or to show you extremities, as the dancers frequently drop into deep squats. Or, even more, to visually trick the audience into forgetting the separate nature of the three dancers’ bodies and instead show one wholly new creature. Overlapping limbs and the dancers’ ability to weave through architectural gaps in each others’ skeletons, means we see stretched legs coming closer to torsos than we would like, some trippy structural alignments, and more moving legs than a bipedal creature should have.

All of this is performed under a likewise rich yet unfussy soundtrack, that moves from reverberating, spacious, and deep creature-like sounds, to swelling strings, before we come back to a pulsating soundscape (possibly including, or referencing, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s excellent soundtrack for the film Arrival). Once again, the dancers end as they begin; but the brighter light and tinkling piano signals at rebirth. There seems to be more hope in the air, and certainly more sweat on the stage. “Palingenesis” is a very engrossing and committed forty minutes, a work of conceptual dance that commits to its intent with skill and flair and is performed effortlessly by its talented performers.