TANZ, the latest work from renegade Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger, dances a fine line between silly pornography and a meticulous study of corporeal potential.

TANZ. Photo © Nada Žgank

Shock value and trickery abound in a two-hour exhibition of bodily fluids (both real and fake) and an escalating series of gross-out physical feats.

But in these extremes, we find ourselves firmly in the chair of the spectator: at once squeamish and spellbound by the fleshy contortions of ten female bodies before us. Beauty bleeds into horror and back again.

It’s compelling if not easy viewing, throwing up thorny questions on taste and propriety.

The work opens with a ballet class led by real-life ballerina Beatrice Cordua, now aged 80, who danced for several German companies, most notably the Hamburg State Opera Ballet.

Cordua puts the students through their paces, her instructions littered with delightful maxims that reveal genuine wisdom collected over many years. With her guidance, the dancers attempt the impossible demands of the technique – wobbling, tensing, falling, failing.

It’s a plain scene. Except for the fact that Cordua is entirely naked. And after each exercise, she...