Dance - What lies beneath

Two dancers turn slowly in place, elbows pressed against their collapsing chests, shoulders shrinking inward, knees fused together. They rise and fall in claustrophobic spaces, each wrapped by two other dancers in retrograde orbits who decorate them, obscure them, covering and containing their secret contortions. You can see them, though never whole, peeking out through the broken places to see who might be watching. They turn counter to the open spaces, quickly covering what they expose, inevitably revealing another private piece like a naked dreamer with a washcloth.

“Veneers” — the second of two dances in Room to Move Dance’s In Tandem II: movement in the wake of strings — examines the motions and emotions of decorative surfaces and the less flashy substance beneath them. Not a simple indictment of superficial facades, “Veneers” also finds humor in the come-hither displays of horny women on hormone highs and a sequin-eyed respect for the rituals of decoration, but it moves finally to a stripped-bare vulnerability.

Inspired by the sculpture of Atlanta’s Amy Landesberg, Room to Move Dance’s artistic director Amy Gately set the work to Philip Glass’ “Quartet #5,” which will be performed live by the Poland-founded, Ontario-based Penderecki String Quartet. The music is itself a study in lost light melodies gradually peeled away to reveal more substantial rhythms.

The show’s other dance, “Blossoms,” is performed to Maurice Ravel’s “String Quartet in F Major” with the Penderecki String Quartet in the center of the stage and the dancers moving around them. A pretty piece, the dance lacks the obscured depth of “Veneers,” though it is more asymmetric orchids in the soil than potted daisies, with as much concern for soil and roots as springtime display.

Room to Move performs In Tandem II: movement in the wake of strings Feb. 7-8 at the Georgia State University Recital Hall, 33 Gilmer St. Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. $6-$15. 404-847-0453. www.roomtomovedance.org.