The Dog Days Are Over dazzled at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. This contemporary dance piece by Belgian choreographer Jan Martens created a buzz in the Vancouver dance community with its daring attempts to push the human body to its limits.

Simply, choreographer Jan Martens’ dancers jumped onstage for 70 minutes without stopping. They moved in and out of complex formations, sweated through their costumes, grimaced, laughed, and shouted out counts. It was a wave of energy, and their sheer determination swept over the audience and filled us with awe. As the piece went on, we saw the cyclical unraveling and reclaiming of each individual’s mental and physical stamina. The form of the jumping evolved, but never stopped until the performers (and audience) were overcome with exhaustion.

“I felt concerned,” one audience member told me after the show. Another was more critical: “It was tedious at times.” To be clear, The Dog Days Are Over was not a relaxing show to watch. At the start, the theatre was fully lit and bare, with six female and two male dancers at the back of the stage. Once they put on socks and running shoes, they formed a straight line and began to jump.

The next 30 minutes adapted these modest hops into kaleidoscopic choreography, rearranging the bodies in engaging and surprising ways. After a near-blackout, the jumping took on new quirky and bizarre body designs. This is when the dancers began to shout their counts, their strain and conviction audible as they spurred each other on to continue.

In this minimalistic piece without narrative, and few lighting and sound cues, what held my interest were the unique bodies of the dancers themselves. Their costumes showed off their form: bare stomachs and legs compressed and stretched with every leap, glistening with sweat. On their faces, we began to see more and more personality as they struggled to complete just one task — simply, to keep going.

In the post-show talkback, Jan Martens revealed that this was exactly his goal for the piece. He explained, “through their mental exhaustion, the humanity comes through.” Rather than making shapes or telling a story, the dancers perform their sheer effort. And in this sense, The Dog Days Are Over achieved something fully translatable: the synergy of mind and body under strain.