The dance component of the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival opened on Thursday night with a near-perfect choice of program.

So it seemed fitting that the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival should inaugurate the plaza with dance commissioned for the occasion.

By its nature, the Out of Doors festival is the most populist and in some ways the quirkiest of Lincoln Center's handful of summer programs.

Possibly because it is, by nature, a sprawling catch-all, Lincoln Center's Out of Doors festival doesn't get the attention that the center's indoor performances get.

There were intriguing coincidences in two major dance commissions of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival this summer.

This Denver-based company, appearing as part of the Lincoln Out of Doors festival, put dynamic dancers through gentle paces to mostly interesting effect.

The occasion is Homemade Instrument Day at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival.

Free; part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival.

The Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival has become a place to see interesting dance in the making, in the relatively informal afternoon performances.

Leonard de Paur, the first director of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, retired in 1988 and died last year.