Like a delectable meal, this weekend's 90-minute dance program at the ARTS at Marks Garage offers a variety of courses. Produced by Upside-Down Dance, it features 13 short dances by seven choreographers. Accompanied by a wide range of tastefully selected recorded music, it is a feast for both the eyes and ears.

Especially memorable are guest artists — petite Maile Okamura and statuesque Amber Darragh, members of the Mark Morris Dance Group — who demonstrate the skill level as well as stage presence of professionals.

In her execution of the solo "Blue," choreographed by Neta Pulvermacher to a Schubert Impromptu for Piano, Okamura creates theatrical magic. Clad in a blue wig and outrageous polka-dot dress, she allows us to accompany her into a world set apart from our mundane reality.

As a bonus, the delightfully saucy duet she created for herself (in a tight-fitting man's suit) and Amber Darragh (in Russian gypsy get-up) is bold, sassy and hysterical. Darragh's rendition of a campy song about "Madame Moskovitch, the Russian Gypsy Witch," seemingly incorporates a fragment of every Russian ballet and folk dance ever created. She also performs it with just the right amount of Slavic panache.

Lisa Orig, director of Upside-Down Dance, has set her solo, "Towing In," to the delicate sounds of the Kronos Quartet. In contrast to her comedic gift, displayed earlier in the program, this piece explores a full palette of original movement. Small opening gestures develop gradually into large, expansive moves which eventually take her to the floor. Like an inebriated inchworm, she covers the ground in a series of arcs and circles, propelled by rapid-fire rolls, slides, suspensions and collapses. Finally she rebounds effortlessly to a poised stance, gently and hesitantly exploring the space around her.

It will be interesting to see how successfully she can transfer her style to other dancers.

Minou Lallemand, choreographer of five dances on the program, combines traditional ballet technique with modern dance. Clean in structure and precise in execution, her dances seem propelled by an internal force. Expansive in its scope, Lallemand's work demands and warrants a larger space. Her company of fine dancers includes Tiffanie Ferrer, Valerie Gee, Adi Inclan, and Malia Yamamoto. Her choreographic talent is most evident, however, in the lyrical duet "La Calma," created for Okamura and Darragh.

Nicole Young, assistant director of Upside-Down Dance, presented two dramatic pieces, most noteworthy being a duet incorporating the talent of teenage slam poet Alex Lum, whose recitation of his poem "The Boogie Man" is interwoven with Young's choreography. This powerful collaboration uses the talent of each to enhance that of the other. Her occasional delivery of lines, juxtaposed against his momentary outbursts of movement, intensify the work's inherent drama. Rather than diluting form, the synthesis enriches both.

Also on the program was Beth McKee Elliott and Kristen Taylor McGarrity's duet to music by Cat Stevens, performed by Elliott, replacing the ailing Maryann Peterson, and Tiana DeBell.

Dance lovers, take note. This program should be on your must-see list.