BORDERS

Sally-Anne Friedland likes playing with associations. The titles of the two works her Israel-based Dance Drama Company performed on Wednesday are each just one word, but they pack symbolic punch.

The troupe had its American debut as part of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, and the evening began with the premiere of "Borders," a festival commission. The short, moody piece, set to music by Philip Glass from the movie "The Hours," opened with five dancers standing behind Paula Miodownik's floor-to-ceiling hangings of gauzy gray fabric. Spotlighted on the otherwise dim stage of the Ailey Citigroup Theater, the dancers undulated languorously, clad in Ms. Miodownik's short, silvery tunics. They looked like ancient statues come to life.

The image was striking but static, and as the hangings were lifted throughout the work, it became apparent that these "borders," while defining and sheltering the dancers, also limited them. As the dancers gained access to the increasingly bare stage, the choreography -- a straightforward mix of ballet-infused leaps and turns -- turned increasingly aggressive. A host of political implications were suggested, if a bit too neatly.