Yanira Castro Sets Time Limits in "The People to Come" Yanira Castro/A Canary Torsi Darrin M. Wright, one of five performers in Ms. Castro's new dance installation, "The People to Come," at the Invisible Dog Art Center. Yanira Castro's latest attempt to blur the line between audience members and dancers is an endurance test. In "The People to Come," seen at the Invisible Dog Art Center on Wednesday, five men move through a performance cycle that lasts nearly four hours. Ms. Castro sets the rules for each round. In it, each dancer rehearses for 19 minutes and then performs a solo for that amount of time. It's like watching a Bravo competition-show marathon in which no contestants ever get kicked off. The dance installation, which includes live music and a score by Stephan Moore, relies on a participatory component in which anyone from the audience and the public can submit ideas for movement through a Web site. The dancers, part of Ms. Castro's group, A Canary Torsi, also spend 19 minutes creating inspiration boards, based on the suggested material. On Wednesday there was a picture of a woman holding her arms over her head with her palms facing up called "Margaret, the last days of tour." Another featured a written message, "Never let go of your right ear (of corn)." But the rules don't stop there: along with two rounds of rehearsing and performing a solo, duets were required. The cast also needs to draw from movement originally created by Ms. Castro for her colleague, the dancer Heather Olson. At times, the performers mutter "Heather O" under their breath to signify Ms. Castro's choreographic presence. The stage has two square platforms. The first one - the rehearsal space where dancers work on their movement material - is lighted by overhead fluorescent tubes; the second, which showcases the actual stage, features more glamorous theatrical bulbs. By placing them side by side, Ms. Castro wants to show how her dancers translate words or images into movement; it's also an indication that the choreographic process is of equal value to the performance. Yet this project feels like a gimmick cloaked in the guise of experimentation, and Ms. Castro's concept overshadows the final product. The first dancer, Peter Musante, chatters to himself during the rehearsal. "Wiggly lights, so slightly wiggly," he says, while lying on his back staring at the fluorescent tubes above. Luke Miller, inspired by a photograph of a woman pulling her hair to one side of her face, repeatedly swipes his hands around his head, smoothing and ruffling his floppy locks. Darrin M. Wright, the most spontaneous of the men, erupts into action as though an electric current is coursing through his body. The wiry Peter B. Schmitz tapes his mouth shut and tries to speak while flailing his arms. There is also a lot of standing still and quiet pacing, but the dancers embrace - perhaps too much - quirkier and more literal moments, as when Simon Courchel, after having chosen a photo of a dog as one of his inspirations, licks himself. Again and again. "This is hard," Mr. Musante says to Mr. Miller when they cross paths. The bond among the men is palpable and, for them, it must be an enriching performance experience. But unless you have your heart set on seeing your idea activated onstage, "The People to Come" doesn't make for risky theater. Inspiration is just the seed of a dance; it's what you do with it that matters. Yanira Castro/A Canary Torsi continues performances through Saturday at the Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen Street, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; theinvisibledog.org.