(Enlarge) The Dance Dimension, featuring Kielan Wilcomb, Sydney Jackson, Antonio Beverly, Abagayle Renko and Marie Chrest, perform at Slayton House in an annual fall concert, Nov. 21 and 22. (Photo by Herrmann + Starke Digital Photography)

America's fascination with science fiction has spilled over into the dance world. Dancers now use terms like "spatial movement" and "universal themes" in describing new works, which are often set to eerie electronic scores.

Cumbersome tutus have been replaced in some cases by sleek, galactic costumes. Indeed, today's unitards are made from the same material as astronauts' suits.

Howard County's Marilyn Byers has been creating works about likable aliens, time travel and characters who transform into otherworldly creatures since 1978, when she first started teaching dance. She traces her love of adventure and fantasy back to her earliest childhood memories.

"My mother was a storyteller," relates the slim, intense director of Dance Dimension. "I can still remember the tales she weaved when I was a little girl in West Virginia.

"My father was a preacher, and he taught me a lot about mysticism. Even now, I sometimes think of my dances as prayers."

Small wonder that Byers and her teenage dancers are a serious lot. This weekend, her Dance Dimension troupe presents its annual fall concert in its home base at Wilde Lake's Slayton House. Expect a program of intellectual works that reflect spiritual profundities which hint of undiscovered countries.

Most choreographers who work with student dancers tend to emphasize traditional training techniques, usually classical ballet. But Byers has developed theories of movement taken from concepts of space, time, shape and motion.

The company's signature piece, "Nomads," for example, is intended to explore "our relationship to the universe." When Byers talks about it, she is likely to compare it with Frank Herbert's "Dune" novels.

Fantasy story lines have dominated the 200-year history of ballet, of course. "Swan Lake," "Giselle" and "La Sylphide" are all classic examples of story ballets that whisk the viewer off to another place and time.

The main difference found in today's dance fantasy is the movement style. When modern counterparts of swans and sylphs want to express eternal love, they don't flap their arms like wings and float across the stage on pointe. Today's fantasy creatures roll across the floor like a blob or seem to go in two directions at once, a la the "moonwalk."

The goal is to allow audiences to vicariously share in the sensation of weightlessness and the adventure of space travel through the discipline of dance.

This weekend's Dance Dimension program includes some familiar audience favorites, like "Crash Landing" and "Structures." The company also plans the premiere of the "Little Match Girl," based on a poignant fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen.

The current Dance Dimension company includes: Marie Chrest, a sophomore dance major and pre-med student at the University of Maryland; Antonio Beverly, a senior at Wilde Lake High School; Malia Wild, a junior at Hammond High School; Abagayle Renko, a sophomore at Glenelg Country School; Sydney Jackson and Nina Beri, sophomores at Atholton High School; and Kielan Wilcomb, a freshman at James Hubert Blake High School, in Montgomery County.

Joining the dancers will be guest vocalists from Palotti High School and the Baltimore School for Arts, local guitarist Peter Legowski and singer-songwriter Joanne Juskus.

The Dance Dimension will perform its fall concert on stage at Slayton House this Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and children, and can be purchased at the door. For more details, go to www.thedancedimension.com.

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