Contorting his body over, under and around an 8-foot, 250-pound steel contraption as it rolled across the stage, Northwestern dance Prof. Joseph Mills captivated the audience with his performance of “Circle Walker” Friday night.

Mills, who came to NU last January, said he decided to perform his show in order to introduce himself to the Chicago dance community. But this wasn’t any traditional dance show.

During the performance, Mills used different creative props, such as the steel circle walker, to showcase his dance talent and choreography to an audience of about 50 people.

Mills staged other performances on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

The circle walker piece opened with the sound of slowly scraping metal and a single spotlight on Mills, who had his arms spread through the middle of the structure. During the dance, he balanced with one leg on top of the free-rotating sculpture, swung slowly from its side and rolled upside-down with his head inches from the ground.

“It’s a very easy piece for me to do because it’s so familiar,” said Mills, who has performed the routine for more than 13 years. Sculptor Alan Boeding choreographed “Circle Walker.”

Audience members said the small stage and rolling sculpture made Mills’s performance even more impressive.

“It’s really scary in the small space, but I thought it was great,” said Meghann Wilkinson, a Speech junior. As one of Mills’ students, Wilkinson danced with other classmates in one of the other numbers.

But while Mills’ performance on the circle walker was the highlight, the show also featured other performers who incorporated different props in their numbers.

In “Red Admiral Butterfly,” choreographed by Mills, six NU dancers wove around each other with red, yellow and orange balls. They tossed the balls back and forth and rolled them between their arms and bodies.

“Watching them all spin and play off each other was beautiful. It was like a painting,” said Julia Steinberger, a Medill sophomore.

Mills also premiered his athletic and sensual duet, “From the Mysterious Void:we,” with his partner Mary Buckley, a dance professor at George Washington University. The partners, wearing tight and sheer bodysuits, kept their bodies touching throughout the number.

Mills’ desire to showcase the athletic talent he displayed in the duet led to his fascination with studying dance in college. It seemed like a natural melding of his interest in gymnastics and the visual arts, he said.

After teaching dance at George Washington University for five years, Mills became an associate professor of dance at NU a year ago.

He said dance professors shouldn’t be afraid to showcase their innovative ideas to students.

“(The students) can come and watch me dance so they can see me putting my theories into practice,” he said.