YES/NO

Four energetic dancers use every ounce of their strength and every fiber of their bodies to embody radical consent: enthusiastically, of their own free will, and persistently, without ambivalence or doubt, with virtuosity and spectacle. They affirm themselves, one another, and the audience directly. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

A chain reaction of radical affirmation triggers an exhilarating joy: Yes, yes, yes, another yes, and then one more, on and on. Then comes the no. Rules and boundaries, self-respect and self-care—all of this requires the clarity of an occasional—or perhaps not-so-occasional—no. Some people find it very difficult to say this word out loud. That makes it all the more helpful to practice saying no; to express it with your body to build up the refusal. No, no, and no again.

Then it gets more complicated. Between the black-and-white clarity of yes and no lies a gray sea of ambivalence, marked by phrases like “I don’t know,” “Maybe,” “Yes, but,” “sort of” and “um”—often accompanied by an almost contorted gesture; a three-dimensional attempt to express the complexity of a situation that cannot be reduced to a simple decision. Dance can make this in-between space visible in order to negotiate the subtle nuances of consent.