Jan Martens Rule of Three

"An eclectic hyperdance...Martens captures the mindset of our hectic age in the shimmering interplay between dance and music.”—De Standaard (Belgium)

See the latest directions in dance when inventive Flemish choreographer Jan Martens brings the US premiere of his new work Rule of Three to the Wex. An untamed meditation in movement and music, Rule of Three is a study in contradictions that—like these times—shifts between stillness and explosion, precision and intuition, emotion and reason. The work’s trio of dancers are propelled by the percussive score of American composer and collaborator NAH, whose music here blends live and programmed drums, found sounds, and treated samples with echoes of rock, hip-hop, and vanguard jazz. The powerful rhythms, surging stage lights, and dynamic movement accumulate and crescendo—then wane and dim down to a rustling murmur.

Building on dynamic contrasts and fragmentary vignettes, Rule of Three evokes the restless pace of urban life—the thrill of a downtown nightclub, the pulse of traffic, the experience of getting lost in pages of information. Columbus dance followers delighted in discovering Martens’s work at the Wex when he presented the US premieres of Sweat Baby Sweat and The Dog Days Are Over back-to-back two seasons ago. Don’t miss this chance to catch his latest debut on this side of the Atlantic.