Steve Moshier

As if the female gender could be glimpsed by chart or through a glass, Highways calls its third annual Women's Festival "Maps and Windows." Nevertheless, the title, as metaphor, made an apt setup for Thursday's opening event in this two-month exposition.

And God said, "Let there be trampolines" ... in order, perhaps, for Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers to perform the whimsical, mind-bogglingly athletic "Shadows of the Spirit" at Japan America Theatre on Saturday night.

Like two Cartesian coordinates locating a point on a plane, the Cartesian Reunion Memorial Orchestra (CRMO) and the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble joined forces Saturday in a successful evening that showed that both electronic chamber music and Post-Modern dance still seem to be haunted by the specter of contemporary urban alienation. The six musicians of CRMO opened the program, aptly named "Parallel View" with five short works, including Douglas M.

While the Olympic torch recently lighted up Sydney, a torch also helped illuminate "Ancient Mariners," a wet and wonderful work that Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers performed at California Plaza's Watercourt on Saturday. Commissioned by Grand Performances (and part of its free series), this site-specific world premiere gave new meaning to the words "water ballet." Move over, Esther Williams.

Silent screams. A sea of sorrow. The body as a temple for redemption. Welcome to the world of Hae Kyung Lee, a fearless artist whose latest work, "Caught Between Boundaries," journeys to a netherworld of emotion and pain. Fastidiously performed by Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers on Saturday, this 30-minute triptych, recently mounted in Germany and South Korea, left the audience at Cal State L.A.'s State Playhouse stunned. And, to those willing to go there, in a province of awe.

If dancer-choreographer Hae Kyung Lee were to have her own theme park, it would consist of a steady stream of Steve Moshier Muzak, Stephen Bennett's cool lighting, lots of sexy costumes (both diaphanous and skimpy) and a series of postmodern undulations that the Korean American artist would design in order to transport the thrill-seeking audience into her visionary world. A "Lee-ticket," if you will. Would it succeed? Not always.

At her best, choreographer Hae Kyung Lee can alter one's perception, transforming bone and muscle into a field of fluctuating vibration or flowing motion. Indeed, with her proclivity for combining the meditative with the highly athletic, perceptual flux is necessary for the work to cohere into something more than an amalgamation of opposing energies and elements. Otherwise, Lee's dances can look overstuffed and, well, just plain awkward.

In linking ancient traditions with an uncompromising modernity, the locally based Asian and Asian American artists who presented a haunting program titled "Unmapped Zones" at the Japan America Theatre on Thursday had much to teach their audience. Most of all, these choreographers and performance artists of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Filipino heritage emphasized the ceremonial: a connection between this moment and occasions stretching back to an uncharted, primordial past.

There is always a line of people waiting to get into the "Friday Nights at the Getty" dance series, which now runs every weekend until May 19. It could be because it's free, but sometimes you can't give modern dance away, so specialized is its audience. Museum-goers, however, might be ready for bodies that move after the splendors of fairly static art and architecture. On Friday, Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers were a good match for the Getty, since they featured majestic lines and sculptural depth.

Time may stop for no man, but it seems to have slowed for veteran choreographer Rudy Perez. Celebrating a quarter-century of dance making in Los Angeles (a co-founder of New York's Judson Theater Dance Workshop, his career spans five decades), Perez still commands attention with his acute insight into bodies moving through space.