What happens to a dance when it's over?

Does it vanish, never to exist again?

What if, like a painting, a dance could live on forever?

These are questions raised in "Lost Action," a piece by Vancouver-based dance troupe Kidd Pivot, which makes its Pittsburgh premiere Saturday at the Byham Theater, Downtown, opening the Pittsburgh Dance Council's season.

Crystal Pite, Kidd Pivot's artistic director and founder, choreographed "Lost Action" three years ago after working on a number of pieces dealing with loss and dance's fleeting existence.

"Dance is really a present-moment experience. It is always disappearing unless you are doing it," she said. "I think this could be what gives [dance] its power, but it's also quite tragic."

Seven dancers, including Pite, explore the tragedy and beauty of dance's ephemeral nature through 70 minutes of very physical, intense choreography, and music by Owen Belton, Pite's longtime collaborator.

Pite also manages to convey, as well as play with, dance's short life span by juxtaposing tense, stilted motion with choreography that's more free-flowing and lyrical.

But "Lost Action" is not only about lost movements. It attempts to deconstruct other types of loss. The production's red stage and backdrop are loose references to the poppies Canadians wear on Remembrance Day, a time for remembering those lost in war. Loss is also analyzed through revisiting the moment of a man's death.

"Some people see the piece as being about soldiers at war. Others see it as urban conflict, about something that happened in the streets," Pite said. "I like to leave everything I do up to audiences' interpretation.

"I would like audiences to feel very present and have a visceral response. A dance gains its power when everyone understands that what they are seeing will never be seen again. This is a really beautiful metaphor for life and death."

Where: Byham Theater.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: $19.50 to $42.50; www.pgharts.org or 412-456-6666. Lean more about Kidd Pivot at www.kiddpivot.org.

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