STRICTLY SPEAKING, Motion Lab is Kathleen Hermesdorf, one of San Francisco's most charismatic dancers and teachers, and her partner, experimental musician Albert Mathias. They are an odd couple because she is so clearly all dance, while he moves through the shadowy territory between music and dance. The combination is intriguing and rather unique. However, for its Verge Residency – ODC Theater's program for artists who have 3 to 10 years of professional experience – Motion Lab hooks up with more than a dozen high-powered dancers to present 10 days of performances that are about as eclectic a mix as you could want. Tight choreography? Yes. Improvisation? Yes. Narrative? Yes. Abstraction? Yes as well. The program, "Free the Birds," includes four world premieres. Of particular interest is Hermesdorf's collaboration with former San Francisco (and now Berlin) resident Stephanie Maher for Schwebezustand (Suspended in Space and Time), which includes a video by Yoann Trellu and music by Mathias, Mangrove Kipling, and Matthias Herrman. For Strange Birds, Hermesdorf collaborates with Chicago transplant Sheldon B. Smith, who also introduces himself to local audiences with his Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m., 3153 17th St., S.F. $18. (415) 863-9834, www.odctheater.org. (Rita Felciano)