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As Tripsichore Yoga Theatre makes its third trip to Pittsburgh, some might wonder whether this is a dance troupe that incorporates yoga postures or yogis who dance.

"If you are a yoga practitioner, you will see a lot of yoga poses. If you do not know yoga at all, what you will see is basically a modern dance experience," says Sharon Hicks, a former dancer who lives in Mt. Lebanon and became a serious yoga student three years ago. "I was so intrigued by the idea of blending dance and yoga that I signed up for the workshops."

Actually, says Edward Clark, the producer, performer, artistic director and a performer for the London-based company, Tripsichore (pronounced trip-SICK-or-ee) is composed of theater people who are accomplished at yoga.

"We're known for our innovative physical work, but we're definitely trying to make/teach yoga that is intellectually rigorous," Clark says.

The company's fusion of dance, theater and yoga goes back to its beginnings in 1979 as a dance theater company that first used yoga as part of its training.

It wasn't until 1992 that the company began its yoga theater experiment of creating highly theatrical dance pieces that had strong characterization and story lines.

Over time, the company incorporated more yoga principles while retaining aspects of dance theater such as plot and character.

"What we do isn't dance -- it's yoga; hence, we call it yoga theater," he explains. "In dance, people in the audience thrill when they see someone take a great leap. ... When an actor plays a sad scene, the audience empathetically feels sadness, too. ... In yoga theater, we try to get the audience to feel the empathy for the spiritual and physical beauty of what we are doing."

Saturday night, the company of six will perform "The Insects," a 62-minute piece about an aging hippie who dreams that he becomes an insect and fathers a baby girl with the queen of the insects. When their human-insect hybrid child is exiled from the insect nest, the father has to find a way to make things right.

"We are making a low-key statement about an idea found in yoga philosophy -- that in order to become one with the universe, you need to be able to see how it looks from perspectives other than the human one," Clark explains.

But it's possible for different audience members to leave a Tripsichore performance having had very different experiences, Clark says.

Some will connect with the narrative. Others will focus on the movement and only later wonder about the story.

"Either way, they seem to have a deep yoga experience -- a profound meditation -- when they watch us," Clark says. "It surprises such an obviously frivolous person as myself ... that if we breathe and focus in a specifically yogic way throughout, the audience joins us, unaware, and has this meditative time."

In addition to the performance, Tripsichore Yoga Theatre will offer three workshops at Schoolhouse Yoga, 2401 Smallman St., Strip District.

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