By Carol Norris
Enquirer contributor

From the moment Dance Alloy's five eager dancers bounce on stage for Sarah Skaggs' abundantly energetic "Get Out of the House" you know you are in for a rare treat. They're smiling and having an obvious good time. If you've seen a modern dance concert or two you know this is an unusual thing - modern dance can be very serious business.

Friday and Saturday's performances are the last in a series of out-of-town contemporary companies to visit the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater this season. Contemporary Dance Theater sponsors the concerts each year, and the final concerts June 6 and 7 will feature local choreographers and dancers.

With only five members in the company, you might think Dance Alloy would come up lacking. The opposite is true - they're capable of handling whatever director Mark Taylor throws their way and each performer engages - whether alone in the spotlight or mixing it up with the group.

Skaggs' high-energy piece combs the heavy beats of the Chemical Brothers for places to insinuate popular dance. I saw hints of tap dance, hip-hop and even the electric slide - all done with infectious good humor. But this isn't an empty attempt to gussy up modern dance with the latest moves. It's a down-to-earth search for what makes dance real, whatever the style.

It's what good contemporary movement can be but isn't always - raw and rough around the edges yet pulsing with energy. At its best you're drawn to it like a moth to light. You just can't help yourself.

In contrast, Taylor's "Nothing Like the Sun" moves to a less frenetic beat. Five solos wrap themselves around the theme of romance. To the poems of Shakespeare, Walt Whitman and others, and paired with the music of J. S. Bach, Frederick Delius and Antonio Vivaldi, love is commented upon - whether tortured, happily nutty or just plain nuts.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable piece that offers the chance to see each dancer alone. Gwen Hunter Ritchie is the most intriguing with her melting lyricism.

Michael Walsh, whom locals know from his days here dancing with Shawn Womack's Dance Projects, has lost none of his athleticism but has matured into an impressive artist.

"Bodice Ripper," also by Taylor, is a stylized, theatrical exploration of coupling in many of its forms, all of which are built around the kiss. Although it's delightfully obsessed, the piece would have benefited from a fearless editor.

Sections could have been sliced and diced and put back together to make a tighter whole. Ritchie and Andre Koslowski perform it with humorous abandon.

E-mail norris@one.net