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Have you ever wanted to wrap yourself up in paper and call it a night? In ''Fold,'' Neta Pulvermacher, an Israeli-born choreographer with a wild imagination, did just that on Thursday evening at Danspace Project. More precisely, her dancers wrapped, and she spoke and sang. The new dance takes inspiration from a line by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze: ''We define the abstract machine as the aspect or moment at which nothing but function and matter remains.'' In this chaotic work, which Ms. Pulvermacher dedicates to her son, rolls of white paper and origami shapes that dancers fly like kites dominate the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paradigm, the group formed 10 years ago by Gus Solomons Jr. with Carmen deLavallade and Dudley Williams, has always seemed like a good idea on paper. But this company, created for and by older dancers, hasn't always produced work equal to the talent. In the troupe's latest program, presented on Thursday at Dance Theater Workshop as part of the SummerDANZ series, Paradigm began with a bang: Kay Cummings's ''Stayin' Alive,'' set to the Bee Gees' disco hit of the same title. Mr. Solomons, Valda Setterfield and Mr. Williams, wearing hospital gowns and pushing IV stands, took shaky sideway steps across the stage. Occasionally pointing a tired finger in the style of John Travolta or flashing a manic grin, the dancers, notably the hilarious Ms. Setterfield, sparkled like vaudeville stars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Netta Yerushalmy grew up in Israel. Lee Sher and Saar Harari were born there. All three create small, charged spaces on the stage of the Ailey Citigroup Theater in ''Out of Israel,'' part of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, first performed there on Thursday night. But they are very different worlds. Ms. Yerushalmy's ''Bilocale -- Come Closer Please,'' performed with Toni Melaas, opens strikingly. Ms. Yerushalmy paints Ms. Melaas's back with red strokes as Ms. Melaas sits on the floor tossing a lipstick case in her hands. Then Ms. Yerushalmy pushes Ms. Melaas down onto a piece of paper to produce stark, calligraphic images, which she then hangs from a rope across the front. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]