There is an intriguing, other- worldly quality to the edgy contemporary ballets of Robert Sher-Machherndl - just as the man himself, tall and serious and hairless, suggests an artist not of this world.

His latest works, Leopoldstadt 22 and Alien Nation, unveiled Saturday in Boulder's Dairy Center, offered little to change that perception. These are two uncompromising pieces, equally demanding for dancers and their audiences.

Fortunately, Sher-Mach-herndl has always enlisted performers of superior skill, fully committed to his vision. The small company, Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet, features female dancers with the choreographer as the sole male. Here, Sher-Mach-herndl was joined by longtime cohort Tessa Victoria and newcomer Alana Niehoff, a lanky Aurora native.

In Alien Nation, Niehoff and Victoria performed dreamy slow-motion solos. Their steps relied on classical ballet tradition, then suddenly dissolved into anti-balletic movements.

Now and then, they were joined by Sher-Machherndl, who offered mechanical support, rather than engage in fully danced duets.

Typical of his work, steps and combinations recurred, becoming iconic moments in a collection of isolated episodes that gradually develop cohesiveness.

What it all meant never became evident. Nor did the musical soundtrack clear things up: Bach alternated with electronic noise that seemed to emerge from the Rice Krispies School of Composition. It didn't take long for all those annoying snaps, crackles and pops to wear on one's patience.

The evening opened with Leopoldstadt 22, another dense piece, danced by Sher-Mach-herndl and Victoria, who seemed locked in a lonely world of despair (the piece was intended as a comment on the Holocaust, the Viennese dance-maker noted).

Imprisoned under a single white light, the pair performed an evocative, understated pas de deux that had the Dairy Center audience in its spell.

Lemon Sponge Cake

• Grade: B

• When, where: Repeated at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Byron Theatre, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave.