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A few programme clues led the audience into believing that this was a work in which the five individuals shared the same stage but ‘are on their own path…exploring their own extremes’. Thankfully, Antipode didn’t need this prompt since the random interaction between the four dancers, intermingling solos, duets, trios and the full quartet in a ‘mix and match’ approach helped to distinguish an identity for each performer, whilst (clearly, deliberately) failing to articulate much, if anything, about their relationships. The smaller dancer, Brian Tjon Tjauw Liem, was often a target for the others’ aggression, avoiding blows in a capoeira-style duet and occasionally appearing to fight off an unseen foe.

Van Huffel’s movement is rigorously athletic in its geometric spatial arrangement of bodies and the work includes stand-out, clever moments during the hour in terms of his choreography, the dancers’ performance and the simple but effective collaborative designs. Some of the lifts and body manipulations in the early group dances contained accents of innovation – taking standard moves and making them seem fresh – such as the big exclamation mark of Liem jumping with two feet to land balanced on the upper thigh of his standing partner. The real-time film shot from above the stage and projected onto the back wall, enabled one performer to lie on another in perfect symmetry to create the strong visual effect of a spirit rising from a recumbent body. There were also some simple but dramatic shifts in lighting that changed a playful mood into something more menacing. Permanently prominent in the background was the musician Joris Vanvinckenroye, playing his own composition for the double bass but also using it as an instrument of percussion.

Although it may have been over-stretched by ten minutes or so, this was an effective and impactful work with lots of interesting ideas to maintain its non-narrative flow. When the dancers got up from lying on the floor towards the end of the performance, four human-shaped sweat patches were testament to their effort and endurance. It was a one-night only gig at The Place but this is well worth catching elsewhere, if you get the chance.