Dance at the office, up close and personal

I was a little stressed out.

We had invited two dancers and a musician to the office to perform for us at lunchtime yesterday, the opening day of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe.

The editor of The Inquirer was on vacation and we had decided his office would be ideal for this event. So we moved furniture around, invited a few colleagues, dimmed the lights, and hoped the sound wouldn't travel far enough to disturb anyone in the newsroom beyond the glass wall.

It felt as if Dad was away and, without telling him, I had planned a party.

Then the sitar music began. The musician - Surajit Das, sitting cross-legged on a couch - intoned a mantra, and I felt myself relax. Soon the first dancer, Isabelle Chaffaud, moved slowly into the room, seemingly pulled by the sounds of the sitar, the harplike surmandal and the electronic tampura.

The U.S. premiere of "Kamerdans" - Dutch for chamber dance - was under way.

Chaffaud surveyed the small audience ranged around the room's perimeter, then stretched toward one person after another, drawing each into the peaceful setting with her long, expressive hands.

Soon her partner (and husband), Jérôme Meyer, entered the room and moved toward her. They leaned into each other, murmured in each other's ears, moving as if connected by invisible threads. The space was tight, but as the tempo of the music picked up, they deftly performed open, swooping arm motions and even a few small lifts, leaps and shoulder stands.

The dancers occasionally drew close to the audience - intentionally close, interacting with each person - but never lost control of their own space.

This is dance delivered to your living room - or, in our case, a glass-enclosed office into which passersby could (and did) peer.

Choreographed by Chaffaud and Meyer, "Kamerdans" was performed 43 times last October at a festival in the Netherlands, where they are based. But this was the first time the choreographers had danced it themselves. They will be performing in living rooms across the city and suburbs during the first week of the festival; Philadelphia dancers Gabrielle Revlock and Meredith Rainey will take over the second week.

"The steps are set, but we adapt quite a lot," Chaffaud said later. "You never know how the shape of the seats will be."

The mood of the room and the audience's response also affect what they do, Meyer added.

The idea is to bring something nonaggressive, positive and beautiful into the home, they said. "Kamerdans" was born as an alternative to television, which delivers a lot of violent images that can be turned on or off but not otherwise controlled.

After the performance, Meyer said, you may see something different in a space you're used to seeing every day.

"You might see the editor's office and remember it as a place you saw 'Kamerdans.' "

A place where I spent a half-hour - at work - in serenity.