DURHAM - Audiences can bank on Argentina for dance that's uniquely theatrical, gritty and visceral, a combination that all but guarantees excitement. The American Dance Festival's six-day concentration of Argentine dance -- along with the last-minute effort to raise money to get the artists to Durham -- has paid off handsomely.

Following the weekend's performances by the comically inventive Krapp and the methodically mysterious Compan'a Contenido Bruto, the Argentine Festival began its second part Sunday in Reynolds Theater.

"Llueve (It's Raining)," from Gabriela Prado & Eugenia Estevez, closely resembles a play in its texts, sets and characters. To the sound of thunder and rain the curtain rises on a large ramshackle room where two women and a man (Luis Biasotto) sit around lethargically on a humid summer evening. They chat lazily among themselves, wander outside to cool off in the rain and languidly engage in teasing caresses.

Within this naturalistic setting, each character finds moments to move into an interior realm to express private fears, hurts and questionings through vivid and often violent dance. In one section, Prado, standing arm in arm with Biasotto, suddenly and repeatedly crashes to the floor. She clings vehemently to him, but he seems oblivious to her, even when she hangs precariously in unbelievable angles from his torso.

Prado is astounding, and so is Estevez. She limply falls to the floor over and over, only to rise back up in reverse like a film running backward. In another section, she flops around like an injured animal in death throes, the awkward positions and tangled limbs painful to watch.

Biasotto is more actor than dancer here, telling two separate tales in Spanish (with English supertitles), symbolically enacted by the two women in stunningly precise duplication.

The hourlong work is never less than fascinating, the mood beautifully sustained through Alicia Leloutre's design of slatted walls and Eli Sirlin's rain-dappled lighting.

The evening's second act comes after an hour's wait -- and a second ticket. Illusion thematically connects the two solo performances, which rely on tricks of the eye.

Edgar Mercado's "Plano Difuso (Fuzzy Map)" takes a high-tech approach, employing multiple projections of computerized effects designed by Gabriel Gendin. Dancer Pablo Castronovo seems trapped an electronically controlled maze as he contorts to fit into shifting boxes of light or scrambles along conveyorlike black and white lines.

In a gasp-making moment, projections on the back wall duplicate Castronovo's image so believably that he can play leapfrog with himself and jog among multiple selves. The technology may threaten to overshadow the pure movement, but there's no denying the wow factor in this dizzying display.

Susana Tambutti's "The Stab" premiered in 1985, during Argentina's post-military dictatorship. Reflecting political concerns as well as male attitudes toward women, it remains mesmerizing in its macabre vaudeville, especially in the hands of Luciana Acuna, the charismatic dancer on whom this reconstruction has been fitted.

Acuna adroitly manages the male/female combination, making two distinct characters in the seduction scenes and a freakish amalgam in mustache and garter at other times. Her awesome energy and control culminates in the chilling final act of the work's title.

The delights of the program are diminished by dividing the evening into two separate parts. A single ticket for a more compact program would have reduced the three-plus hours needed to experience it.