Andrea in ‘Wonderland’

Her appearance and demeanor may appear charming, even demure, but Andrea Miller’s dances are nothing like that. They revel in a visceral power and are unafraid to venture into ferocity and ugliness. Bodies are more likely to flail and collapse than to display an elegant line. In her two major full-evening works, 2008’s I Can See Myself in Your Pupil and the following year’s Blush, one can sense a young choreographer unafraid to tap into primal sensations and to ask her dancers to expose their nerve endings. But at the same time, her work is elegantly disciplined, and amid the tension there are helpings of wit and playfulness.

Pupil and Blush had their premieres at the 75-seat Joyce Soho, but for her latest work, Wonderland, Miller’s company, Gallim Dance, is moving uptown to the main Joyce Theater in Chelsea. She is working with a larger group of dancers, a dozen, this time around, and a steady stream of recent commissions—Ballet Hispanico and the Juilliard School (from which she graduated) presented new Miller works last fall, and the winter found her in Switzerland, working with Ballet Bern—has kept her busy, and it was not until late spring that she could really get her dancers into the studio to create the new work.

But the powerful inspiration for the 45-minute dance had asserted itself during an earlier vacation in Spain. When Miller entered a Barcelona gallery where the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s installation Head On was on display, her imagination was immediately engaged. She was confronted with 99 wolves, charging forward towards a glass wall. In 2008, when it was on view at the Guggenheim, Cai described it in an interview as “an installation that depicts certain type of collective behavior or collective heroism, tragic and brave.”

For Miller, Head On generated an interest in exploring the idea of pack mentality and its adaptations within human instinct. “I felt like he did it in a way that was so powerful and simple—and it wasn’t preachy. Aesthetically, it was beautiful. It took up such a huge space in this gallery. From the doorway, you saw these wolves coming in. It was beautifully executed and it made a lot of sense to me. I just got the courage to try something myself that spoke to issues that I felt were prevalent. His installation is very political, because it was created and installed in Berlin. The wolves are crashing into a wall that’s the same height and width as [the] Berlin Wall. He was making a political commentary on a similar historical moment, where people fell into line, following leaders who were leading them astray. The fact that he used glass is a comment; our walls are invisible, but some of the most dangerous kind of walls.

“Pack mentality usually refers to animals. Humans have this instinct as well, socially. I try to play with what’s the line between how animals act in pack mentality, and how humans behave.”

Wonderland’s cast of 12 is double the size of Blush. “Part of the desire to use a bigger group is because, in the commissioned works that I’ve made this year, I’ve worked with many dancers. Juilliard was 24, Ballet Bern was 15. I was really enjoying that, having those kinds of numbers that I can play with. But I think ultimately it’s because that piece that it’s inspired by was so overwhelming—those 99 wolves. I felt I needed a sense of mass, a crowd.”

At a recent preview of excerpts at the Jewish Community Center, the surging energy of the ensemble, divided into subgroups each with its own purposeful mission, was already intense. Rehearsing at Juilliard a few days earlier, Miller’s focus was on a single dancer, as she crafted a solo section for Arika Yamada. With the expansive studio’s mirror covered and no sound heard, Miller, Yamada and Francesca Romo (an original Gallim member who is also associate director) worked with meticulous attention to detail. Miller identified each moment’s purpose, shape, attack and impact with vivid descriptions and imagery, as Yamada tried to match the bracing clarity and vivid resonance the sequence had as Miller moved through it. As the hour drew to a close, she danced it to the music, which sounded like a robust 1930s big band, and it came alive with new power and assertiveness.

The music for Wonderland is a collage selected and edited by Miller. “I listen to a lot of music, all the time. I like to be responsive to the environment. If I hear a sound, and that really works, I’ll use it.” Her musical selections for Pupil, excerpts of which will be on the opening program of City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, are particularly astute, ranging from Balkan Beat Box to Puccini.

Wonderland is on a shared program next week with Camille A. Brown, who will offer five short works on her half of the evening. On alternating evenings, Monica Bill Barnes and Kate Weare share a program.

Wonderland

Aug. 9, 11, 13, 14, [Joyce Theater], 175 8th Ave. (at W. 19th St.), 212-242-0800; $10 and up.