How often do you get to sit inside a dance work? Zephyr artistic director Michelle Kranicke plans to stick some audience members in the middle of her new The Trace of Her Is Barely Visible–part of the company’s 20th anniversary concert, “In the Looking”–demanding that they become active viewers, making “conscious choices” about what to watch. To that end, she’s also asked lighting designer Rich Norwood not to highlight the dancers at times and created an unusual aural environment in which, for example, they play a sort of onstage game of Marco Polo, delivering a word or two here and there. Resolutely abstract and disciplined, Kranicke’s 35-minute quintet is indeed demanding, but it’s also rewarding. A new trio by associate artistic director Emily Stein,Bonsai #5, evolved from the same creative process that yielded the two solos on the program. Calling herself a “science geek,” Stein says she generates complexity by exploring variations on simple but rigorous rules. Pianist Kate Bradfield accompanies Bonsai #5 with her own compositions. –Laura Molzahn