Two pairs of dancers watch from upstage in a spacious Meany Hall rehearsal room as a third, downstage couple moves in tandem. The woman rises over the man — suspended briefly as if in slow motion — and then the other couples return to fluid movement across the bare stage.

This is a rehearsal for the University of Washington Chamber Dance Company performance of a piece called “Jardi Tancat” based on Catalonian folk tales collected and expressed in song by Maria del Mar Bonet. But it’s also a bit of history — the faithfully exact re-enactment of a dance created by a famous choreographer more than three decades ago and a continent away.