Desrosiers Dance Theatre.

It has been seventeen years since Robert Desrosiers launched a company to mount his own idiosyncratic choreography and, until recently, to display his own virtuoso technique, a combination of mime, acrobatics, and magical, often grotesque, stage effects. Themes often were bittersweet observations on the human condition, sometimes wickedly satirical. Ballet conventions were present as well, and frequent allusions to commedia dell'arte. No season was without its surprises.

The recent home season was in that sense true to form, artistically and in other ways. The company has renewed itself amid major financial and management difficulties, but only mounted two performances in the restored 1,100-seat Edwardian Winter Garden, whereas in the past it might have run ten or more performances in a smaller venue. With a few exceptions, notably Robert Glumbek and Robin Wilds, the dancers are recent recruits with a wide variety of training and experience. Still, onstage they move with the assurance of artists who are comfortable with each other.

The double bill of premieres, Pierrot and Vivaldi's Sacred Songs, was divided into two acts, the first dedicated to the moon and the second to the sun. Pierrot, in three parts, was placed under the sign of the moon "for the moon takes the light to give back a dim glow. Man ... is like the moon." Pierrot's lunar quality was developed in a dreamlike sequence, with ecstasy on one side of the stage and dismal unhappiness on the other. Rodolfo Rivas Franco and Eric Tessier-Lavigne cleverly mimed the succession of Pierrot's moods amid a fantasy of dream ladies. "Pierrot in a Dream" was the most stylish and yet the most subtle of the works's sections.

"Pierrot Goes to Hollywood," which followed, consisted of too many anomalous gags, while the earnest "Pierrot Goes to War" hardly rose to the challenge of the theme, even with the strong, expressive presence of Desrosiers himself. But a Grief filmed dream sequence of young Pierrots (students from the National Ballet School of Canada) with the dead protagonist was a feat of beautiful imagery.

The second act's work, for the sun, Vivaldi's Sacred Songs, was much more successful, and a real surprise. Desrosiers revealed a new facet of his talent -- more lyrical, and exultant in the power of modern dance without special effects.

Spiritual the nine "songs" may be, (actually, they are movements from oratorios) but the choreographer moved his dancers about with unabashed physical energy and joy. Among many duets, two with Robert Glumbek and Robin Wilds excelled in sheer exuberance and skill. The work ended with a grand ensemble to a section from Gloria in D, and perhaps the underlying, profoundly wished message of both pieces: Et in terra pax ("And peace on earth").