THEIR lips don't move but you can hear these dancers talking. Saying

''I really, really fancy you.'' Or ''You drive me mad, do you know

that?'' Or ''I've had it right up to here.'' Or ''Oh God! Why is

everything such a mess.'' Their lips don't move but their bodies speak,

with rapid hand gestures and expressive stances that choreographer

Jonathan Lunn has transformed from everyday colloquial movement into a

witty, richly textured and exciting dance vocabulary.

And it's not just the accomplished energy of his choreography in

Modern Living that lifts the spirits. It's the boldest of the vision

behind the project, the range and quality of the collaborative talents

involved in it.

On stage, playing live -- and colouring the shifting moods as

significantly as the varying washes of light -- are three class

musicians: saxophonist Andy Sheppard, versatile percussionist Nana

Vasconcelos, keyboard player Steve Lodder. They wrap a really opulent

fusion of sounds around the movement, a collage of bluesy-jazzy-ethnic

music that works responsively with the ideas and dance.

The stage itself is a stylised, stark ''interior''. Peter Mumford's

design tilts a runway round the central area, affording Lunn those

variable levels he enjoys working with. And taking all levels of the

piece in their stride are Lauren Potter, Kerry Woodward and Jordi Cortes

Molina who join Lunn in dancing out the tensions, the emotional

rivalries, the lonely self doubts and fractured relationships of the two

couples who briefly come into the space.

Some sections are, perhaps, a shade overstretched -- the debate at the

table, where all four are semaphoring their viewpoints with such graphic

hand signals, could be pruned but when, for instance, Molina and

Woodward shimmy into a sensuous duet of physical attraction, every step,

every hand gesture is sweetly right.