VIDEO: Sneak Peek - Kaeja d'Dance's X-ODUS and CRAVE in Rehearsal

In just a few weeks, Toronto's Kaeja d'Dance, the award-winning company led by husband-and-wife choreographers Allen and Karen Kaeja, presents the world premiere of X-ODUS and Crave, a new double-bill that delivers two takes on intimacy - one from each half of this passionate couple. X-ODUS and Crave probes unsettled solitude and the attempt to reconnect for an evening of deeply resonant, dynamic encounters from Tuesday, May 7 to Saturday, May 11 a tEnwave Theatre as part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps. Click below to watch snippets of both pieces in rehearsal!

Allen Kaeja's X-ODUS features his "trademark stamp of hyper physical, high impact choreography" (Toronto Star) with Karen Kaeja and four other electrifying performers. Taking risk to the next level through explosive and intimate struggles, the five dancers journey to find closeness, vulnerability and depth. "To arrive one has to leave."

Dancers: featuring Karen Kaeja along with Michael Caldwell, Zhenya Cerneacov, Merideth Plumb, Stéphanie Tremblay-Abubo. Creative team: Dramaturge: Bruce Barton Composer: Edgardo Moreno; Lighting Designer: Kimberly Purtell; Costume Designer: Cheryl Lalonde.

Karen Kaeja's Crave exposes the beauty and chaos of intimacy in a haunting duet of racing hearts that navigates loneliness, unsettledness and the hope that keeps us hanging on. Solitude, disconnection and trust become awkward interfaces that are magnified by a life full of efforts to reconnect.

Dancers: Michael Caldwell, Stéphanie Tremblay-Abubo. Creative team: Dramaturge: Pil Hansen; Composer: Sarah Sugarman; Lighting Designer: Kimberly Purtell; Costume Designer: Cheryl Lalonde.

Now entering its 22nd year, Kaeja d'Dance has had an exceptional 2012. The Globe & Mail honoured Karen Kaeja's vision for Porch View Dances this past summer as the "Best Site-Specific Work" of 2012, "exploring the very essence of what makes us humanŠa poster child for site-specific dance done right." The Kaejas won the inaugural Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) "I Love Dance" Community Award and were finalists for the CDA "I Love Dance" Innovation Award.

Founded in 1991, Kaeja d'Dance has established a reputation for innovative contemporary dance performances, site-specific works with extreme numbers of dancers, acclaimed screen dance and in-demand education and outreach programs. The Kaejas have created more than 140 stage works and 26 films, received commissions worldwide and toured over 20 countries. Faculty members at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and Ryerson University, Karen and Allen Kaeja have published two books, and their films are in the Permanent Collections of the MoMA (New York), Yad Vashem (Israel) and many university libraries. The Kaejas won the inaugural Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) "I Love Dance" Community Award and were finalists for the CDA "I Love Dance" Innovation Award. They were also finalists for NOW Magazine's 2011 Best Local Choreographers Award.

Kaeja d'Dance presents the world premiere of X-ODUS and Crave part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps on Tuesday, May 7 - Saturday, May 11; 8pm at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West. Tickets: $18-$39 ($100 gala tickets also available for May 11 in addition to regular price). Harbourfront Centre Box Office: 416-973-4000 OR online at www.kaeja.org.

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