For viewers still stuck in the mindset that real men don't dance, PBS' showing of "Black Grace: From Cannon's Creek to Jacob's Pillow" will offer convincing proof to the contrary.

Profiling a formerly all-male outfit from a small New Zealand community, which has become one of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance companies, the hourlong documentary airs tonight on PBS Hawaii. Local audiences may remember when the group made an appearance at Leeward Community College in 2005. The film, a production of TVNZ, is being distributed by Hawai'i's Pacific Islanders in Communication. (The DVD is available for sale at booklineshawaii.com and pbs.org.)

"Black Grace" alternates between interviews with the artistic director, his dancers, a teacher and others, and clips of the dancers in action. The Samoan and Maori heritage of choreographer Neil Ieremia and the dancers is clearly visible in the work, which fuses chanting, body-slapping and intricate rhythms with a contemporary dance style.

Ieremia, who has family ties to Hawai'i, founded Black Grace 11 years ago and remains its director, choreographer and driving force. In close-up interviews, Ieremia talks about his childhood, when, plagued by ill health and forced to remain at home, he began experimenting with dance in the family's dining room.

Determined to form a dance company of his own, he worried about being considered weird in the small town of Cannon Creek.

In his community the word "black" means the strongest, most courageous, and Ieremia convinced the "meanest, baddest" boys to participate. He then combined "black" with "grace" to give a sense of the kind of energy and masculinity he hoped to include.

Himself part Samoan, Ieremia admits in one poignant sequence how difficult it was for him to pursue ballet training.

"It was just soul destroying for a young, proud Samoan/New Zealand Creek boy. ... My body wasn't built to do that," he reveals. Despite the difficulties, Ieremia and his dancers have all had formal dance training.

Currently the company includes seven male dancers, each of whom, according to Ieremia, has a special gift. He lovingly describes the virtues of each dancer while the camera bears witness to his testimonials. While one is "full of natural, surging power," another is a "technician who knows how to lift his leg in a certain way" and yet another is "a great expressionist." Clips of the dancers amply illustrate these and many other traits that distinguish this company from others.

In their turn, the dancers express great admiration and respect for Ieremia. It is clear from the very first footage that this is a collective enterprise, and the sense of 'ohana is palpable.

Ieremia's highly original choreography combines Polynesian traditions such as chanting, body slapping and stamping with sometimes percussive, other times flowing full-body moves. While one dance is witty, another is tragic. The range of emotions and themes is as varied as the dancers themselves.

Film director Aileen O'Sullivan gives an excellent overview of the company's rich repertory, the dance sequences textured with seductive lighting.

Several years ago, Ella Baff, director of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, saw the company and invited them to perform at the prestigious event. Founded by Ted Shawn, a pioneer modern dancer and founder of America's first all-male dance company in the 1930s, Jacob's Pillow seemed a perfect place for Black Grace.

The invitation, however, was met with trepidation by Ieremia. Suffering from a temporary loss of faith in his own abilities and those of his dancers, his perfectionism led him to doubt the group could impress Jacob's Pillow dance aficionados. Fortunately, as we see in the film, it ended well, and Ieremia recovered his sense of humor.

Not only did the group wow them at Jacob's Pillow, it went on to perform to great acclaim in New York City.

With twinkling eyes, Ieremia tells us how, while eating at a Chinese restaurant in New York, three fortune cookie messages summed up his personality: