Ten dancers in coveralls lie onstage in near darkness. As if waking from a nightmare, one raises her head, curls her body and begins rocking. That motion soon spreads to the others, in waves, until they are all crouching and twisting and kicking over, like B-boys vamping in preparation for power moves.

In these first moments of Victor Quijada’s “Ever So Slightly,” much of its method and mood are established. Mr. Quijada’s apt term for that method, Rubberband, is also the name of his Montreal-based company, making its Joyce Theater debut this week. Borrowing body-inverting floorwork and an elastic flow from hip-hop, his choreographic style takes its patterning and construction from contemporary dance. At its most exciting, as when a dancer tossed in the air hangs in suspension before flying into reverse, the choreography has stretch and snap.

Here, the style is applied to group dynamics. The 10 dancers leave the stage only once and then en masse. Although there are solo breakouts, flashes of individuality at the center of the dance circle, Mr. Quijada is most interested in chain reactions, reflexes rippling through a pack, breaking points when something or somebody snaps.