As part of Luminate – a Scotland-wide festival of, and about, creative ageing – the Belgium company Kabinet K plunged our perceptions of how we look at people (and dance) into freefall.

In part one, a child and an old man joined choreographer Joke Laureyns onstage in episodes that had nuances of family games, family rituals. And yet, as the little girl fell into matching step with Laureyns or repeated the weary "head in hands" gestures of the elderly man, the whole piece became wonderfully evocative of how custom and craft are passed, bodily, from generation to generation.

The trust that is shared by the trio is revealed in details of gesture and interaction that twinkle with humour and affection so that the profound elements within the work – how we learn by looking, how individual bodies perform the same actions differently and how we, ourselves, factor in "age" as a defining characteristic – are conveyed with a tremendous lightness of touch.

Part two, and another trio. This time the choreographer is male, Kwint Manshoven, and his companions are a girl (early teens) and an old woman, both of whom keep a watchful eye on his quirkily boisterous behaviour – joining in, with perhaps little hints of gamesmanship rivalry, but also making sure he has the right clothes, the right props for his merry escapades. As he prances bare-torsoed to baroque music, there's a sense of "oh no – not again" in the looks from both women, but the exasperation is blithely channelled into caring for this overgrown child who, like everyone else in this joyful life-affirming diptych, has a thrilling creative energy whatever their age.

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