Over the years Haynes has proved her talents as a strong tap and modern dancer. She gives us a glimpse of an emerging creative artist able to mold the material she has been learning and shape it into new and fresh directions.

Not all pieces on the program are equally interesting or well conceived. But three works show exceptional talent, each in its own way.

The program opener, "Audience Sit-Study," is a humorous essay on audience types and behaviors. Although it starts out in silence, once the music (a mellow jazz score by Joshua Redman) begins, there is much humorous cavorting. Rooted at first to their line of chairs, the five dancers stare into the audience. As the piece progresses, the dancers slump, cross legs, jump and lean on each other. A study in character types, we see the cell-phone-fixated Michael Pili Pang flanked by a cool and sophisticated young woman (Ann Pidcock) and a bespectacled wallflower (Kelby McIntyre), while Traci Chun and Marissa Yogi, on the peripheries, respectively portray a scatterbrain and a blasé young thing. Strong movement-driven character studies add to the charm of this number.

Haynes displays her considerable talent for tap dance in a solo titled "Fiesta Mo-Jo" to the music of Dizzy Gillespie. Despite her clean rhythm tap technique, Haynes often creates a fusion of tap and modern through the addition of larger leg and arm movements and occasional torso undulations. Her strength in this area is unique, and it's definitely something to be encouraged.

The strongest work on the program is the straight-modern piece, "Mirror," danced to a taut and sparse score by Krzysztof Penderecki. In this original dance which relies on nothing but movement and the formations of bodies, eight dancers carve out space with alternately curved then sharply linear limbs, assembling and reassembling in ever-changing, clearly defined groupings. Thanks to the intensity of the performers and the tension of the music, the dance and dancers create a very particular atmosphere onstage. Particularly outstanding are Ann Pidcock and Morgan Cloud in their brief duet, and Marissa Glorioso in a short solo moment.