This weekend's Arena Dances program at the Cowles Center featured three premieres, two from artistic director Mathew Janczew- ski and one from guest choreographer Robin Stiehm.

Of these, the quieter works had the biggest effect, particularly the raw beauty of a new duet choreographed by Janczewski for dynamo guest dancers Susie Bracken and Heather Klopchin.

"Frozen River" began with physical separation and ended in ecstatic embrace, as if Bracken and Klopchin sought their missing halves. Enchantment flowed through the work, supported by building shifts in moods.

Often the movement was introspective, defined by ethereal gestures pulled in close to the body's core, but in other moments the sense of liberation was palpable -- a head tossed back, a skating motion across the floor. Janczewski perfectly tailored his choreography to the strengths of these unfailingly bold performers.

While "Frozen River" provoked thoughts of newfound freedom, Stiehm's "Forward Reminiscences," danced by Jancweski, did just the opposite by exploring apparent and implied confinement.

Corralled within a grassy square, Janczewski conveyed perpetual unease as he tried to find comfort on -- and even under -- the sod. At times the movement carried him upward, but just as often he crashed to the ground. It was a work of barely restrained desperation tempered with a last gasp of hope set to edgy music by Somei Satoh.

Janczewski's other new work, "Anthem," was tough to watch. The dancers struggled to keep up with the bombast of the music from Michael Nyman, Kathryn Stott and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

The big sound demanded an equally brash movement response but Janczewski displayed unusual indecision about whether to go along or go against the expectations created by the epic musical selections. Because "Anthem" never found resolution around this point, the entire effort felt as if it were hurtling out of control.

"Anthem" was a misstep in an evening that otherwise showed growth for members of Janczewski's troupe. "Threshold," from 2010, has matured in its exploration of cracks within otherwise stable emotional states, changing from its original all-female cast to a full company work.

Associate artistic director Amy Behm-Thomson, as she often does, wove a spell through gorgeous fluid movement. And Lucas Olson-Elm, Renee Starr, Sarah Steichen and Timmy Wagner infused 2005's "Quartet" with seductive confidence and welcome bursts of high-flying moments.