By Rita Felciano

THE KYOTO PROTOCOL took effect Feb. 16. On March 3, ODC Dance presents the world premiere of Brenda Way's On a Train Heading South, a full-company piece that looks at global warming, as part of "Dancing Downtown," its 34th annual spring season. The timing may be coincidental, but choreographing a piece about such an enormous and involved topic – even if it is in the news – is, to say the least, extraordinary.

Translating concepts and issues into dance is a notoriously treacherous endeavor. The body resists the subtleties of abstraction and reason but is admirably suited to delve into the morass of human relationships. You may be able to choreograph the complicated emotions between, say, two very different women, but as Balanchine pointed out, you cannot dance the concept of a mother-in-law. So Way, an experienced dance maker, knew what she was getting herself into. Yet, she says, "global warming is the central issue of our time, so I thought it was worth the risk of failing."

The immediate impetus for Train came from composer Jack Perla, a longtime environmentalist. Working with him for the first time, Way was intrigued by his proposal to tackle global warming, and, as she explains, "with a new collaborator, you always try to find a point of convergence." Yet she was not convinced the project was doable. What got her going were an image and a character.

The image was that of a huge block of ice melting onstage. Underneath were performers who never acknowledged the meltdown. "It didn't feel much like story, more like a circumstance, but that was something I thought could work with this," she says.

Three weeks before the performance, Way still hadn't figured out exactly how she would keep the dancers from slipping onstage, producing a disaster of a different sort. "We'll do it when we get into the theater," she confidently predicted. It wouldn't be the first time risky stage business entered into Way's choreography. In 2001's Crash, she positioned a pole sitter high above the dancing, driving the audience nuts with anxious anticipation.

The second key that opened a door into the work was the figure of the female outsider. In Greek mythology, Apollo awarded the gift of prophecy to Trojan princess Cassandra, but when she refused to sleep with him, he put a curse on her so that, though she could foretell the future, her predictions would fall on deaf ears. Cassandra repeatedly tried to warn her fellow citizens about the oncoming Greek warriors, but as Brad Pitt can attest, the Trojans were wiped out. The analogy to the scientists who for years have predicted the effects of global warming is clear. For Way, the Cassandra character also embodies the kind of conflicts – both internal and external – that create theatrical tension, something Way decided she could translate into movement. Cassandra also struck a sympathetic chord as a kindred sister to the women once defined as "hysterics" by male physicians – figures whose shadowy presence haunted Way's Spectral Evidence four years ago.

With a topic as portentous as global warming, Train proved to be highly physical, at times exuberant, and always passionate at a preview for a packed audience at "Unplugged" (ODC's popular works-in-progress performances) in January. Most intriguing, in addition to the Cassandra who literally seemed to slip out of her senses, was Train's sense of humor. Way may be outraged at what she calls "our sense of entitlement, which makes us think that we have the right to all the resources and keeps us from developing a deep sense of global well-being," but given the urgency of so many issues, global and local, there is also something hilarious and patently absurd about a citizenry that passes laws against, for instance, wearing baggy pants.

At Train's center – at least while the work was still in progress – Way placed a riotous parade. It was a fast-moving fools' procession concerning what she calls "weapons of mass distraction." They were the blown-up, irrelevant news stories that keep a complacent populace from focusing on real issues, like poverty and injustice. Like participants in a mad carnival, figures danced while Rome burned and Cassandra went mad.

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ODC Dance's spring season includes three other premieres. In Something about a Nightingale, Way looks at the how, why, and what of inspiration. The Tin Hat Trio provide the music.

Co-artistic director KT Nelson also shows two new works. She describes Lost at Sea as "an effort to ride the waves of uncertainty and the temporary moments of repose." The duet Shenanigans is set to music by Darius Milhaud and features the magnificent ODC dancers Private Freeman and Anne Zivolich.

'Dancing Downtown' runs through March 20. Program one: Thurs/3, 7 p.m.; Fri/4-Sat/5 and March 18, 8 p.m.; March 20, 2 p.m. Program two: March 11, 12, 17, and 19, 8 p.m. Program three: March 12, 2 p.m.; March 17, noon. Yerba Buena Center Theater, 700 Howard, S.F. $15-$75. (415) 978-2787, www.odctheater.org.