Dance. Alloy. Theater. Artistic director Beth Corning likes it that way, with periods to make you pause and think about what is coming next, where nothing is easily absorbed and everything is probing.

The company's "Fragile" looked greatly at home Friday in the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side -- exposed brick, exposed lighting, exposed emotion.

This was as raw as the Alloy gets, a heavyweight blend of theater, with the human condition laid bare, and movement, sometimes barely discernible, but still hitting you in the face.

There is never a moment of respite with the Alloy. Everything is carefully tended, like a bonsai garden, with enormous foresight and acute attention to detail. Sometimes it works against the group, as in Susan Marshall's "Arms," which opened a laudable program of three premieres.

Only five minutes in length, "Arms" concisely tells the story of a relationship in its flailing movements. But the heightened and highly rhythmic accents -- Scott Lowe roughly grabbing Maribeth Maxa to keep her from falling, for example -- broke the continuity of connectiveness.

The brevity of it all was overcome by piggybacking "Arms" with the powerful premiere of Donald Byrd's "Interrupted Narrative/No Consolation," a piece inspired by the death of Central Catholic High School student Brendan Foley and one that focused on the resulting emotional aftermath among loved ones.

This was the Alloy at its finest. The dancers brought to the stage their own tales of youth interrupted, the names of which they scored into the floor and the air, the stories they tersely whispered. This was a piece bathed in despair from which there was no escape, except for Stephanie Dumaine's whispered solo at the end, which left the audience dangling. But on the whole, it was impossible not to sympathize with the commitment of these dancers.

Corning's "Flight" floated somewhere in the middle. Much seemed to be in place -- Tulle & Dye's white dresses and suits, evocative lighting by David Covey and a minimalist sound collage. Corning often created stunning tableaux for the dancers on wooden ramps.

But the title was misleading because, in the end, "Flight" didn't soar. It was restrained by sculptural movement that left little room for freedom. The costumes, beautiful to look at with voluminous skirts and long tuxedo tails that were unbuttoned and rebuttoned, actually detracted from the flow of the piece.

Corning needs to alter the texture of her movement, which is thick and unforgiving. It needs light and breath to play into the artistic mix -- then her vision will indeed take flight.

The program will be repeated tonight at 7. Call 412-363-4321 or visit www.dancealloy.org.