Following close on the heels of Pilobolus Dance Company's University visit, another internationally known dance company, Jennifer Muller/THE WORKS, will perform at 8 tonight in Eisenhower Auditorium.

The ten-member company will present three works from its 1988 repertoire in a two-hour show designed to demonstrate the group's variety of performance styles, said Jennifer Muller, artistic director of THE WORKS.

"We always like to bring our most recent repertoire. I think that the pieces (differ) very much," Muller said.

The performance is a Center for Performing Arts event.

University dance instructor Susan Koff said that although both Pilobolus, which performed in Eisenhower auditorium two weeks ago, and THE WORKS are both viewed as innovative, nationally known dance companies, they are built from different philosophies.

"Pilobolus has humor in it that (Muller) doesn't have. Pilobolus is intriguing and witty, and Muller's company says 'let's see what the body can do,' " Koff said. "She's really involved in motion and falling, while Pilobolus is more interested in structure and support. Pilobolus can also laugh at itself.

"The average person might say (after Muller's performance), 'I can't believe a human being can do that and still walk away standing up,"' Koff said.

The imagistic Flight of the Predatory Birds will be one of the pieces on tonight's program. Incorporating theatrical elements, the dance uses the bird as a metaphor for modern society.

"In observing our society, we are taught to be violent to succeed, and we train our children to do that," Muller said. This piece questions the teaching, she said.

During Birds, the "real characters" of the piece stand at the edges of the stage, caught up in isolation, oblivious to the bird dancers center stage and the audience.

"Each one exhibits some kind of obsessive behavior," Muller said.

Occasional Encounters is one of the more recent dances Muller created that deals with the subject of relationships. It is accompanied by "lush and gorgeous piano pieces," Muller said.

"The idea of Occasional Encounters is that throughout one's life, you pass through relationships and someone new comes into your life," Muller said.

The last work of the evening, City, captures through dance the frenetic pace of a day in city life. It encapsulates the early morning hours and ends late at night, Muller said. She described it as "a huge, virtuostic dance piece."

Before founding THE WORKS in 1974, Muller worked with some of the most prestigious names and organizations in the dance profession. She began dancing at the age of three and had choreographed her first dance when she was five.

By the time she was ten, she had begun studying dance at the Juilliard School. Soon, Muller was working with ballet master Anthony Tudor, modern dance pioneers Martha Graham and Jose Limon among others. Muller was principal dancer and partner of Jose Limon in the Limon Dance Company for nine years and was associate director for the Louis Falco Dance Company before she formed THE WORKS to explore her own extension of the Limon dance style.

The Limon style is based on breath, fall and recovery.

Today, THE WORKS has presented pieces on four continents and in 31 countries. In the United States, the company has performed from coast to coast.

"She and Louis Falco took on very similar styles. Both are extremely technical and extremely capable and it makes for some exciting moments," said Koff.

Koff, who teaches the Limon style in her classes, took classes in New York from Muller and Falco's companies about 10 years ago.

"As performers they are just breathtaking," Koff said. "And they really push it to the limits --complete arches and extensions up to the ears -- with a lot of movement and energy. When I took (classes) from those two companies that's the feeling I had.

"You can bet the audience is going to love Muller, just because they're going to be wowed," Koff said. "Its just that you see people moving in ways you can't imagine the body can move."

Jennifer Muller / THE WORKS will perform at 8 tonight in Eisenhower Auditorium. Tickets are available at the Eisenhower Auditorium ticket center and the Playhouse box office. Student tickets will be available at 7:30 p.m. at the door.