"Gunsmoke" was what we might now call a "prestige" Western, and Lardner yearned for the old-fashioned kind, "with its austere pattern of men, horses, chase, and fusillade".
But then his austere geometric patterns yielded to a celebration accompanied by the contemporary African music of Fela Kuti.
In contrast to this drama, Bach's mathematical precision is translated into austere cerebral patterns that risk turning into a background for Mr. Woetzel's travails.
The only real stylistic shift comes in the 1950's and 60's, when Ermanno Toso, a member of the third generation, introduced square canes, thicker glass and more austere, nearly geometric patterns.
Robert Garland's "New Bach" (2001) also takes a page from Balanchine's book, but here that great neo-classical choreographer's austere geometries and kaleidoscope patterns are disrupted by pelvis undulations and shoulder shimmies.
But the most interesting distinguishing characteristic is the hamon, or tempering line or pattern, an austere but purely decorative contrast in the tone of the metal extending along the blade.
On Saturday, Christina Lynch Markham rendered that solo incisively, and in the rest of the dance the ensemble ably depicted the group patterns in their austere beauty.
But here, and in a couple of Motian compositions that followed, the stop-start patterns, controlled and austere, suggested the diminished emotional vitality that can occur when performers subordinate their egos in a musical non-aggression pact.
