HISTORICALLY, MUSIC and dance go together like a shoe and its mate. The connection between language and dance, however, has been much more of an up-and-down relationship. In the dance world, spoken word is a relative newcomer, having given birth some 40 years ago to what we call dance theater. Initially it infuriated dance purists – but by now they have come to accept this intruder, though grudgingly. In dance theater pieces, language serves to punctuate, elucidate, and expand ideas that cannot be expressed in movement. What the Foundry's Alex Ketley is attempting in his new work, Syntax: A Reading Danced, is much more radical. Poet Carol Snow appears in person to read her text, based on her own poetry and that of others – including William Butler Yeats, Gertrude Stein, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Instead of trying to interpret the writing, Ketley developed a code to choreograph the language's structure. Nouns, for instance, suggest departure; verbs, traveling; and prepositional phrases, partnering. It's grammar turned into poetry, both kinetic and verbal. ODC dancers Andrea Flores and Justin Flores – yes, they are a couple – do the performing honors. 8 p.m., 3153 17th St., SF. $12-$15. (415) 863-9834, www.odctheater.org. (Rita Felciano)