Divided into several contrasting episodes, with smooth and organic transitions connecting them, "Scape" begins quietly, in a dim, warm light. Behind a group of five crouching bodies, one figure enters slowly from the wings. Like a graceful bird, Pouliot mounts them, one after another, standing perched and still on their backs before descending as carefully as she arose and moving to the next.

By the time she reaches the last dancer, the group begins to dissolve and reform itself into new architectural arrangements, like a perpetually changing organism. Other dancers alight and descend, then a group creates a formation which one dancer can climb, finally, as the pace picks up, dancers begin to leap, not climb, onto others. The tempo increases until it suddenly stops, giving way to silence.

In place of the sparse bird and nature-like sounds of the opening section, a strong percussive rhythm begins. A trio begins a unison phrase, which morphs into a canon. Following a brief duet, the dance continues to build momentum and energy until it reaches a climax with all seven dancers leaping, falling, spinning, swinging and twisting ecstatically. We are left with the image of them filling the stage with an energetic frenzy as the lights slowly fade.

Proving to be as adept a dancer as she is a choreographer, Pouliot displays her performer side in the solo, "Soul Scratchings," which follows. Her technical skill, though exceptional, is matched by the power of expressivity displayed through movement. With outstretched, often grotesque gestures, she portrays an anguished character, torn between extremes, reaching out only to collapse again or freeze in mid-gesture.

Of the five remaining choreographers, three are men. This season has been especially noteworthy for the quality of its male dancers and choreographers. Each of the three shows a unique dance style which is reflected in their choreography. Whereas Desmond Kane Balbin favors the dramatic in his "Skeletons in the Closet," accompanied by an intriguing, occasionally distracting, film projected onto two onstage screens, Arturo C. Mariano's "Echoes" (set to a wonderful Steve Reich score which, in contrast to the other musical selections, sounds almost "classical") shows his own propensity for lyrical, flowing movement and clarity of form. Kelly Del Rosario, on the other hand, impresses us with his — and his dancers' — strength, agility and acrobatic skills in "Bodyprints." One is not surprised to learn that he is a capoeira master. Remaining choreographers Jacqueline Nii and Elizabeth Merida offer, respectively, a well constructed quintet and a dynamically varied and musically ambitious quartet utilizing the talents of four live musicians.

As one has come to expect from the UH dance program, the quality of dancing throughout the program was excellent.