Karen Swiatocha performs in Fusionworks’ new show.

Alison Swiatocha

PROVIDENCE — Fusionworks Dance Company presents movements with a message.

In the modern dance troupe’s new show, which opened Thursday and runs through Saturday at Rhode Island College, there’s an emphasis on making a statement. Three of the program’s five dances do that, and a couple of them do it well.

In terms of integrating artistry and expression, “Wien” is the winner. The piece, which was choreographed in 1995 by Pascal Rioult, makes its Rhode Island premiere, and thrives on contradiction. There’s the gentile waltz music of Ravel offset by the often hostile movements of six female dancers who circle the stage clockwise in a cluster, again and again, while circling among themselves. The group shows both cohesion and dissension. The dancers peacefully partner with each other, punctuated by an occasional attempt at strangulation.

This is darkly comic. It’s the 1940s, which would explain the women’s simple and drab peasant dresses, and their sudden urge to goose-step and salute.

There’s an artfully expressed political and sociological message of the individual living within the group, and the group discarding (pushing, slapping, etc.) the nonconformist.

“Freedom in the Box,” a premiere choreographed by Stephanie Stanford, Fusionworks’ assistant artistic director, is serene, slightly somber and otherwise soothing. Six dancers in simple, basic and contemporary attire turn and twirl gently and gracefully to the singing of a female vocalist who imparts a folksy feel. If there’s a message, it’s open to interpretation; the piece is reportedly about people trapping themselves in particular ways of life, but that isn’t apparent.

The show ends with “Finning,” a premiere by Deb Meunier, Fusionworks’ artistic director. The piece is in three movements, and it’s big on ambition, providing commentary about the savagery of the practice of finning, where sharks are caught, their fins are cut off for consumption, and the sharks are tossed back in the water to slowly die.

That’s not the sort of thing you generally see set to dance, but it’s clearly and cleverly expressed here. Sharks (portrayed by six women) happily swim (dance). Then there’s a dancer who’s bright and shiny, with gold at her wrists and ankles, and fluorescent yellow strings hanging from her arms, legs and waist. She’s a lure. She undulates in the movement of the water. And she brings about the capture and killing of the sharks.

The sharks suffer without their fins, nicely conveyed by dancers putting their arms behind their backs, and struggling to balance and move without them.

The dance ends cheerfully, showing a world where there’s no lure, and no practice of finning. The piece, which is generally slow and mournful, delivers a clear environmental message.

Filling out the program are a couple of mood pieces, one African, one Caribbean.

“Bushasche Etude,” choreographed by Primus, features eight female dancers, classical African drumming music, and classical African movements — of bent-knee side shuffles, hopping and jumping, and an arm gesture of spear throwing. “Buenos Dias,” choreographed by Meunier in 2002, is a pleasing, toe-tapping number featuring eight women in bright dresses (orange, lime and pink), the music of Carlos Santana and a cheerful, celebratory feel that makes no attempt to make a message, other than enjoy.

Fusionworks’ fall show continues Saturday at 8 p.m. in Sapinsley Hall at Rhode Island College, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence. For tickets, $25, $20 for seniors, call (401) 456-8144. For more, visit fusionworksdance.org.

brourke@projo.com