The emotional darkness of “Tension Por Vos” gave way to the heavenly bodies of Ulysses Dove’s masterwork, “Red Angels,” which closed the program’s first half. Choreographed in 1994, the D.C. premiere of the contemporary ballet for four dancers felt like a stylistic precursor to more recent and bolder ballets of the same ilk by choreographers Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden.  

Sharp and sleek, Dove’s mercurial and outstretched movement for the ballet tapped into the cool, driving vibe of Richard Einhorn’s composition “Maxwell’s Demon,” for electric violin, played with vigor by CDP’s principal musician, Sally McLain.

Costumed in crimson red, the dancer pairings of Tamako Miyazaki with Peter Mazurowski and Patric Palkens with Serrano each brought a level of sculptural elegance to their dancing, especially in showy demi-solos by each that began with them strutting like fashion models down a runway.  

The program’s second half opened with a reprise of Coburn Bruning’s seminal work, “Prufrock.” Co-created with theater director Matt Torney, the piece was set to an original electronic sound score by James Bigbee Garver, who performed it live as Torney recited T.S. Eliot’s 1915 poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” with an Irish brogue. 

The work’s five dancers, costumed in black men’s suits, ties, and bowler hats, appeared to dwell in a shadowy and surreal world that faded in and out of view as pools of light illuminated the stage, revealing peculiar images of the dancers before they receded into darkness again.

Bruning’s inventive choreography paralleled the mood and emotion contained in Eliot’s poem, which describes a middle-aged man consumed by self-doubt, indecision, and social anxieties. 

It began with Palkens and dancer Lope Lim seated on stools, leaning sideways, and moving their limbs back and forth as if running in slow motion on air. It was the first in a string of snapshot vignettes that appeared like something out of a fever dream. This kind of bizarre and clever imagery continued with dancers sitting on the stage and pressing their chins into stool seats, and bounding side to side with arms swaying to and fro, looking like overdressed speed skaters. 

A multi-layered work dense with striking imagery, “Prufrock” was a superbly danced gem.