When patrons look back on Northrop Dance's 2010-2011 season, one memory they are sure to relish is the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's generous performance of "In Hidden Seconds" on Tuesday evening at the State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis.

Choreographer Nicolo Fonte, an American with a burgeoning worldwide career, takes an unlikely source of inspiration -- a brooding violin piece by composer John Tavener -- and uses it as a springboard to celebrate the gorgeous curves of the human body via a skillfully crafted, constantly shifting landscape of solos, duets, trios, quartets and quintets for the elegant, ever-fluid cast of 10 dancers.

Nicolas Fischtel's bathed-in-moonlight lighting sets the appropriate mood, and Fonte makes the most of a simple backdrop of vertical black strips, using it as a launch pad for full-impact entrances and exits. When the curtain came down, I wanted nothing more than to immerse myself in its world all over again.

Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy that Spanish choreographer Cayetano Soto chose to title the program's opening work "Uneven"? Commisssioned by the company in 2010, the ensemble piece for eight (including Minnesotans Katie Dehler and Sam Chittenden) seems to be propelled in spite of composer David Lang's tediously repetitive but sometimes hypnotic score (played with raw emotion by cellist Kimberly Patterson). Despite the dancer's razor-sharp timing and Soto's perilous, pretzel-like partnering, "Uneven" remains just that, one of those ballets that just doesn't quite come together.

The evening's dessert course was "Red Sweet." Finnish-born Jorma Elo's effervescent work, a 2008 company commission, fits its ensemble of eight like a bespoke suit. Just when it feels as if he's overstayed his welcome, Elo paints another indelible image, and unleashes one of his leitmotifs -- in this case, running in place -- into a gorgeous final tableau. Still, the cute and distracting gimmicks (the silent and cartooney exits, the fidgety fingers) are beneath him.

The bouyant score, a mélange of melodies by Vivaldi and Biber, sets the tone for quick-change groupings and fleet, energetic movement, executed with brash confidence and wit. What sounds like an occasional banjo and dulcimer lends a kind of Baroque hoedown quality to the proceedings. It's the kind of work that isn't afraid to exude happiness, an emotion too often in short supply in contemporary ballet.

Two thumbs up on the venue. This young and gifted chamber-sized troupe would have been dwarfed in Northrop's gigantic acreage, but it fit right in on the State Theater's vaudeville-scaled stage. In a pre-show curtain speech, Northrop director Ben Johnson announced that his 2011-2012 season will take place across the street at the Orpheum Theater, while the U's big barn undergoes a much-needed renovation. World-class dance in downtown Minneapolis. How great is that?

Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757