Alonzo King could not have thought of a better name than Lines for his company.

Drew joined Lines Ballet in San Francisco at age 17, where she was made principal dancer and had works created on her by Alonzo King.

Alonzo King makes dances that are peculiar, uncomfortable to watch and oddly static, all things that ballets are not supposed to be.

It was founded in 1982 by Alonzo King.

"Lila," by Alonzo King, is certainly not your usual approach to mixing the ballet and modern-dance idioms, and its prime interest lies in this area.

The program opened with "Following the Subtle Current Upstream," another plotless, concept-heavy piece, this time by Alonzo King.

Alonzo King and his San Francisco-based Lines Ballet have long been a puzzle.

It is easy to see why Alonzo King is an internationally popular dance teacher and why he calls his company Lines Contemporary Ballet.

A program of dances by Alonzo King, Ms. Weeks and Mr. Avila, who has continued his dance career after losing a leg to cancer.

Alonzo King, from San Francisco, had true originality in the shapes he created for "Lila," a piece that nonetheless never added up to a convincing whole.