FOR two-thirds of the programme by Deadpan, the Los Angeles-based company which is presenting an evening of dance at the Project Arts Centre this week [concluding tonight], I wondered how anyone could describe such work as "explosive, convention-shattering and subversive".

Though I have enjoyed minimalist dance in the past (notably by the Canadian-based American-Irish dancer Terrill Maguire) and Morleigh and Roxanne Steinberg have well-trained bodies, neither Splinter, choreographed by the former and danced by both sisters, nor Ode, choreographed and danced by the latter, seemed to justify such descriptions.

Admittedly, Splinter had a splendid score by Howie B, with exciting rhythms and sounds evoking the jungle and rushing winds, while its use of figures glimpsed tantalisingly through gauze finally created the effect of splintered mirrors. Nevertheless like Ode, with its interesting use of shadows, it was ultimately unsuccessful.

Only when the superb Japanese dancer, Oguri, appeared in his own piece, Intention, to music by Shoukichi Kina, did the purpose of the earlier pieces become clear, for some of the choreographic vocabulary was identical. The last work, however, was created by an outstanding artist whose vision and technique Morleigh and Roxanne Steinberg cannot at present match.

Supported by Israeli dancer Boaz Barkan, from the company Renzoku, which Oguri founded in 1993, the latter worked with fierce concentration, whether spreading flour by his movements, which had remarkable grace, slowly stripping down to a white loincloth or hurling truths at the audience like rocks. He seemed to fuel the whole company with inspiration.