Meandering through the streets of Kensington and Fishtown, I finally come upon the choreographer Ellie Goudie-Averill's live-work space. On the second floor of renovated industrial building on Hazzard Street, Ellie and Rain Ross are rehearsing a duet—likely to be called "Lessons for Your Love"—that is one of five dance pieces in their Philly Fringe show Absence/Presence.

"It's about small changes that happen every day that add up to a big deal," Ellie says.

In the sun-dappled loft, they open the duet silently, with about 20 seconds of movement before music begins. Rain and Ellie collide awkwardly, literally negotiating space with each other. Their movements are just out of sync, as if they're struggling to align themselves. Coming together to clasp hands is a motif, and a tenderness evolves over the course of the piece.

They finish a little early—the soundtrack still plays, so they re-run the duet to find spots to slow down, and talk about phrases that have gotten faster since they began. After the second run-through, they finish about right on time, movement unified as they exit.

Kinks worked out, we adjourn for a pint at Atlantis, the Lost Bar, a couple blocks away on Frankford Avenue, to talk about representing relationships physically and how to give audiences access points to dance. And videos! After the jump.

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Good morning, children! To start your day, let's watch this video preview for Absence/Presence, a Philly Fringe dance presented by Stone Depot Dance Lab (Eleanor Goudie-Averill) and Rain Ross Dance (Rain Ross). They're both relatively new to Philly, but they're already working with dancers you may know, like Scott McPheeters and Lindsay Browning.