I can’t help but suspect that two titles on Nichole Canuso’s show somehow have a through line. Here We Are Again grew out of a piece called Better I’d Stayed Up to which I gave a yawning review three years ago. It was then only the beginning of a concept. And with the resounding success of Fail Better Canuso really stuck it in my eye. She is cheeky and subtle enough to do that, though dare I be egotistical enough to think that was her intention? But if my burr spurred her on to two of her greatest works to date, I am pleased she has the spunk to defy her critics.

Canuso’s choreography is of the body and the eyes. Her beautiful big brown eyes, that is. Would that her partners in dance could match their childlike self-mockery, but she has expression enough for all to play off. In Here We Are Again Jillian Bird, David Brick, Meg Foley, Lee Shapely (is that a name for a dancer, or what?), Michele Tantoco and Canuso weave among themselves like sleepers awake. And like characters we reorganize in semi-waking dreams, Canuso trains them to play and eventually play themselves out. As she falls into repose, she seems to have met the man of her dreams.

Lovely as this piece was, her solo work Fail Better brought the audience to its feet. Starting with a white ball, Canuso rolls and follows it around the stage, catching it before it can disappear. The ball is joined by square blocks slid onto the stage by an unseen hand. First, one, two, then three, then whizzing by her by the dozen, they cause her consternation. Once they come to a stop, it becomes apparent that this first-time mom has been observing her toddler. Without mimicking baby-like moves or ever being cute, she has perfectly caught the way babies learn, experiment and move on. After building several towers out of the blocks, she danced among them daring them to fall, which they did not. This fresh and original dance puts the ball squarely in Canuso’s court and she could travel it anywhere in the world.