In varied program, troupe gets its kicks

"Chameleon" is one of the dances being presented by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet this weekend at Jacob's Pillow. (Christoper Duggan)

BECKET - The annual summer-long festival of dance that Jacob's Pillow delivers is bound to invite comparison to the Olympic Games. All of those international companies, all of those fabulous dancer/athletes. So be it: This week it's the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, a terrific troupe of 11 dancers who are doing us proud in an excellent program of four dances that show off the company's versatility.

Artistic director Tom Mossbrucker and executive director Jean-Philippe Malaty are committed to presenting contemporary classical dance with an emphasis on commissioning new works. Helen Pickett's "Petal," which premiered in February, solidly affirms the importance of such sponsorship.

The title is apt for such a sunny piece, though fortunately there are hints of mystery and tension among the four couples. For instance, in the partnering, the women are never prettily presented like fragile dolls in need of assistance. When offered, they manage to convey both wariness and a shrugging acceptance, willing to investigate how an extra hand can exploit and heighten their movements. The women frequently kick at their partners (gently, but even so), mostly at their shins as if to trip them, but once, memorably, at head level.

The movement is drawn largely from ballet vocabulary, and Pickett chooses well. Indeed, "Petal" and the pas de deux from William Forsythe's 2000 "Slingerland" are the most overtly balletic - the women wear pointe shoes in both pieces. Ironically, given the "Ballet" in the company's name, it's in these pieces that the company's few technical issues emerge.

The men exhibit a weakness in their extremities: pirouettes executed with arms extended suffer because there's no reach through the forearms to the fingertips; more complex jumps like cabrioles lack sharpness both in the spring from the ground and the shape of the feet. Although the women have plenty of dynamic attack, their pointe work is gummy, possibly from the soft, beaten shoes that the company apparently prefers.

The five women in Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili's "Chameleon" are barefoot and, at times, bare-souled. This funny, strange "dance" - the dancers remain mostly rooted to their green folding chairs - is a keen commentary on the exhausting expectations that can be placed on women. Affecting various poses and exaggerated facial expressions, they conjure lascivious vamps, innocent little girls, or back-slapping best buds. At one point the women raise their legs up, splay them, turned in and feet flexed; then, with perfect comic timing, cover their crotches demurely with their hands.

Jorma Elo's 2003 "1st Flash" is a reminder that the young Finnish choreographer has already developed an unmistakable style. The stage is eerily lit, partially by the large rectangle that hangs upstage right (stark industrial lighting is another trademark). Elo's quirky movement - awkwardly yet appealingly vulnerable, like an adolescent who hasn't grown into his limbs yet - is often agitated. At times the dancers rush onto the stage as if late to work, and then hurl themselves into a phrase as if to overtake the clock. But suddenly a dancer will sweep languorously through a turn and it seems, comparatively, that time has slowed . . . for just a moment, and then the twitching resumes.

It's fairly manic, and it could be too much, but as for me, I wish it would never end.