When does a war begin? Where does responsibility for an armed conflict begin and end? And above all, where does its impact on people’s lives begin and end? Originally from Lithuania and Belarus respectively, Agniete Lisičkinaite and Igor Shugaleev have seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine turn their lives and artistic careers upside down. Belarus supported the invasion, while Lithuania aligned itself with Ukraine’s defence. The dialogue established between these two artists would be unimaginable in the political sphere.

And yet politics is inseparable from life, as this powerfully direct piece about risk, freedom and difference demonstrates. If live performance is grounded in presence, in Clap & Slap that presence is distorted by the threat of war that hangs over everything. It is as though the words cannot quite be spoken because logic has broken down, nor can bodies fully exist because an invisible force keeps displacing them. Igor was forced to flee Belarus because of political persecution, while Agniete committed herself to not collaborating with Russian-speaking artists.

This piece asks how it is possible to sustain a world that has been torn apart and has become, quite simply, unsustainable. The physical and verbal exchange between the two performers becomes a balancing act in search of a lost point of equilibrium. As the performers become increasingly physically engaged, the whole piece oscillates between stillness and explosion, creating a sense of imminence and danger that permeates every word that is spoken.

Because one of the first things war destroys is the meaning we attach to our words and actions, making them so unfamiliar that they become unrecognisable. This violent assault on our freedom is also at the heart of Volvamos al baile, in which Valencian choreographer Inka Romaní revives the fandangos that were banned during the Franco dictatorship.