This year's Fall Footholds concert at the University of Hawaii-Manoa presents eight modern dance works ranging from lyrical to dramatic to mystical. The dancing is technically excellent.

While fans of television dance competition shows may miss the flash and virtuosity they are accustomed to seeing, they may be pleasantly surprised by the subtlety and substance of these students' efforts.

For the return viewer, most rewarding of all is to witness the development of the student dancers over time. That's particularly evident in the work of Jennifer L. McGowan, both in McGowan's dancing and, most strikingly, in the evolution of her choreographic skills.

McGowan has three works on the current program, all very different.

A dynamic sextet, set to a pulsating Philip Glass score, displayed incessant energy, ever-changing groupings and hints of dramatic relationships. A quartet, "Woven Path," was less interesting, despite the lyrical and flowing choreography.

The standout of the three is a solo McGowan created for Michele M. Painter, one of the department's most exciting dancers. Performing to Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune," Painter seems to twist and bend in multiple directions simultaneously. Her sinewy body and cropped haircut lend her a lean and svelte appearance which is matched by her absolute control and coolness. Although McGowan would also do justice to this solo, she was wise in setting it on another equally gifted performer. Painter has taken the material and molded it so perfectly to her own body that it seems to be improvised on the spot.

The evening's most intriguing piece is choreographed by the talented Painter, who also designed the flowing tunics and loosely flowing pants worn by the eight female dancers.

Danced to the gentle sound of tinkling bells, Painter's work alternates quiet, peaceful movements with ones of tension and drama. A recurring motif has the dancers slowly bending sideways at the waist, first to one side, then the other.

It opens with a tug-of-war between two dancers, grasping opposite ends of a rope, one standing, the other seated. The seated performer is pulled offstage, writhing and twisting as she goes, and another pair enters, one dancer slung over the other's shoulder.

Are these people unwilling residents of a monastery or members of a mystical cult? The viewer is intrigued and engaged.

A third Master of Fine Arts candidate, Lisa Orig, presents "Posture Lab," which opens the program. It is a humorous and graphic illustration of the many ways our bodies can move, demonstrating most clearly good and bad posture.

Other works of note include Meghen L. McKinley's expertly performed solo, and Phoebe Hwang's quintet of rambunctious vagabonds. London Contemporary Dance School exchange student Hannah Spencer performs a thoughtful solo to a haunting song by Bjork.