AcesHigh Members of the dance group Bodiography -- Dan Savage, left, Shannon Hritz, Maria Caruso, Lauren Suflita and Kelly Basil -- will show some "Wonder" at the Byham Saturday night.

Just like a child, a young dance company must be nurtured, as Bodiography's artistic director and founder Maria Caruso well knows. Always on the lookout to grow, the energetic Caruso has encouraged her dancers to participate in the choreographic process so that they might interact with her on a higher artistic level.

		Bodiography Contemporary Dance Company Featuring: Anjali Austin's "Attaining Wonder" and a premiere by Maria Caruso, to music by the Dave Matthews Band. Where: Byham Theater, Downtown. When: 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets: $26.50-$40.50; 412-456-6666.

Caruso also has carefully introduced other professionals to the mix along the way, beginning with former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Johann Renvall and contemporary solo artist and Princeton faculty member Ze'eva Cohen.

"I use rock music to attract new audiences," explains Caruso, who is premiering her own work to music by The Dave Matthews Band at the Byham Theater on Saturday. "Johann was leg specific in his technique and Ze'eva had a gestural approach. It was a great way to push forward."

This year she went back to her roots. A graduate of Florida State University, Caruso attended classes given by former Dance Theater of Harlem dancer Anjali Austin. "She had a great way of making the dancer feel comfortable," says Caruso. "She was nurturing, but precise -- and just what we needed."

Austin spent 13 years at Arthur Mitchell's Harlem company, performing in works like George Balanchine's "Four Temperaments" and "Concerto Barocco," Glen Tetley's "Voluntaries" and Agnes de Mille's "Fall River Legend."

"He was demanding," says Austin. "He shaped not only how I danced, but how I approached life."

Upon her retirement, Austin followed that model with her students, not only teaching discipline, but how to show appreciation. As Florida State underwent a $14 million renovation, adding a National Center for Choreography with a full conditioning center, she brought 20 years of Gyrotonic training, a method of exercise and rehabilitation, to the hundred students in various dance programs.

Austin brought "Attaining Wonder," appropriately named for a young dance company, to Bodiography Contemporary Dance Company for its upcoming program.

She had designed an African-based dance for her Florida State students, but wanted to expand the work, which now includes an earthy sense of world music. Her time at Bodiography presented the perfect opportunity.

"I tend to look at pedestrian movements, how we walk in life, what our natural dance is," says Austin. "I like to look at when we're most honest in movement, then take those pedestrian movements and embellish them."

In "Attaining Wonder," she is taking the Bodiography dancers toward an "enlightenment, a spiritual side, toward those moments that are very private." She wants them to be "honest about sharing the vulnerability that we all have."

Austin started with a few simple movements -- rubbing of the hands, a shoulder roll -- and the rest came through observing the dancers and what they did and shaping it. "Once they are at a certain technical level, I build the confidence so that they are able to make the movement their own," she says.

"So often we're put in a place in a rehearsal setting where it has to be one way or the other, right or wrong," Austin continues. "I want to see some variation. I want to see what gray looks like. Let's see it all and see what happens."