Like the fragmented debris the main character salvages from a post-apocalyptic civilization, "Deadtech," Breakbone Dance Company's 80-minute performance drama, leaves audiences with provocative snippets. Taken as a whole, the formidable new work by artistic director Atalee Judy -- which premiered Thursday at the Chopin Theatre -- feels labored and obvious in its search for the human element amid the rubble of high-tech gadgetry.

But through her gravity-embracing, body slam-style of movement and complementary use of original video (by Carl Wiedemann), Judy evokes a certain rawness. Professional but not slickly packaged, the production weaves together stream-of-consciousness wanderings with rigidly delineated scenes. The framework also mixes any number of gothic sci-fi movie ideas, from "Terminator" to "Mad Max," "A.I" and even Jerzy Kosinski's "Being There."

A large-scale collaboration between Judy, several designers and the Dance COLEctive, "Deadtech" follows the journey of the title mechanized survivor (spun from wires and used auto parts) of a global catastrophe. Left with artifacts, like the torso of a doll, Deadtech searches for signs of human life only to receive mixed signals about love, sex, war, power and death. When he jacks into a videotape of old Hollywood films, the robotic protagonist enters a world of quiet mind control -- mainly through his dream self, portrayed by the one-named Sprite, an "Edward Scissorshands" figure without the cutlery.

The audience views Deadtech's altered state through a 15-scene collage of these images coming to life. Yet a certain artistic void remains.

Besides Judy's propulsive movement, with its emphasis on twists and falls, the choreography blends martial arts, ballroom, modern and ballet styles. Yet the brazen genre crossing doesn't fully advance Judy's thematic ideas.

Most successful are the sections that play off the classic movie clips. A chimney-sweep scene illustrates how pop culture can perpetuate stereotypes of the happy-go-lucky poor. Mindy Meyers' solo as a ruby-red-lipped, cigarette-puffing seductress has a grotesque, mechanistic quality to it. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers spark a bleak duet between Deadtech's dream self and a dancer-doll that gets symbolically dismembered.

However, a bondage-inspired scene, drawing parallels between ballet dancers and racehorses, verges on the manipulative in its one- dimensional demolition of the ballet aesthetic.

---------- "Deadtech" runs Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 2-5 at 8 p.m. at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. Tickets: $15. Call 773-244-2365.