The first half of the program was most successful visually, although the choreography overused chairs as props. Still, the movement designs were riveting.

Margaret West’s “The Phrase of One” opened to haunting music by Gustavo Santaolalla. Two dancers on black cubes moved in slow, sustained patterns, seeming bound to the cubes. Another two entered to divide the area and introduce delicate, ecstatic movement with light pedal steps and rhythmic contrasts.   People in street clothes stalked on, and threw chairs around, disturbing the flow. The original sustained movement, began to dominate as the street people moved smoothly around, above and through their chairs, repeating and developing the first cube-bound material finally, “One Phrase.”

“The Last Goodbye,” an intense solo performed by Ashley Miller seated downstage on a chair, evoked memories. Her hands turned pages from an invisible book as the pain of loss enveloped her body with sharp contractions of knees, elbows, and hands covering her face. Miller caressed, moved around, and enfolded an empty chair, sustaining an emotional intensity throughout.

“Waves of Return,” choreographed and performed by Allie Hankins and Gabi Rojas, was a strong, athletic confrontation, perhaps between old friends, recapturing moments that varied from strenuous competitions to embraces.

Focused intensity and control of the stage space characterized all of these dances, culminating with an exciting hip-hop dance to music from Michael Jackson.  Titled “You Rock My World” by choreographer Trey Pickett, it projected a film of a solo dancer (again on a chair) which brought back a young Jackson with his original moves, here enriched by sadness as he reached to move ahead and out of that scene, which was picked up live on stage with a large cast emerging from a line of, yes, chairs.

This tribute to Jackson’s influence on dance style articulated body isolations, sharp, fast changes, and explosive energy erupted from behind, over and under the chairs into  terrific unison choreography.

The second half of the program opened with “2003,” choreographed by Kirsten Allard for dancer Jennifer Sullivan, and accompanied by vocalist, Megan Chandler. The dance was less successful, with balances a bit shaky. “2003” may refer to the beginning of the Iraq war, but there was too many repetitive head moves from side to side; O.K. that means denial. The long, vibrantly held tones of Chandler were mesmerizing.

“Holds,” by Erin Arnold to music by Franghiz Ajli Zadeh and Vangelis, revealed bound, sometimes rigid sculptural shapes, with hand gestures indicating ritualized content. Bells tolling and voices chanting created a sense of intimidating spiritual power over the dancers. The dance was long, and could be improved with editing.

“Undertow,” by Lara Alena Thurgood, was based on Middle Eastern belly dance, with two dancers manipulating veils. It was based on words from H.P. Lovecraft about the sea rising up to destroy a wicked world. The saving beauty of dance seemed to be the surviving grace as the dancers emerged from a dark grouping that rolled away from them. The idea was more powerful than the execution, but the two central dancers captured a sensuous dignity.

“Rudiments/Sediments” was an excerpt from a longer piece by Allie Hankins that offered some cleanly designed movement, elegantly performed, that evolved from breath sounds and variations of rhythms within each breath. An original musical score was composed by Jeff Bryant with bass viol and piano.

Strutting chorus girls in derby hats danced an energetic jazz piece to “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Andrea Hernandez-Gonzales designed lots of speedy turns and high kicks as the dancers flashed a theatrical projection in a neat finale; nothing very original with the choreography, but nicely put together.
 

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