DANCE REVIEW : KPBS Will Air Follow-Up to Hit Video : Fewer Gimmicks: This time the producer eschewed high-tech and relied on the basics and ‘Three’s Company’ choreography for ‘Take 3 More.’

The creators of “Take 3” have done a double take over its success. The 30-minute dance video, a collaborative effort between Three’s Company and KPBS-TV (Channel 15) executive producer Paul Marshall, was originally conceived merely as “filler”--with no outside financial support. Its modest beginnings notwithstanding, “Take 3” took off like a rocket after its first local airing in 1986, as Marshall noted in a recent interview.

“ ‘Take 3’ won about five national awards, and brought a lot of attention to KPBS and Three’s Company,” he said. “Then, when I saw ‘Gurney’ (a twosome choreographed by Jean Isaacs and Nancy McCaleb) with Patrick Nollet and Denise Dabrowski, I had to get it on tape. I wanted to capture it while they were still doing it, so I put that in the can two years ago--again, thinking, if nothing else, it would make good filler.”

But buoyed by the triumph of “Take 3,” and with a new piece ready for packaging, the team decided to take another stab at a half-hour dance video.

The results, titled “Take 3 More,” will debut on KPBS at 10 p.m. Friday. Despite the similar name, this video sports a different look than its predecessor. Marshall went back to the basics and kept the action grounded in the studio for this one. He even eschewed most of the high-tech video effects that characterized his maiden effort, in order to steer the audience’s attention toward the program’s kinetic qualities.

“Even though we were successful the first time, I felt very guilty about it,” Marshall acknowledged. “I thought the medium was upstaging the dancing. Good choreography can enhance the performance without

playing with electronics. I decided to concentrate on the dynamics and to have faith in the choreography.”

Consequently, “Take 3 More” anchors the dancers to the stark studio setting, and keeps the spotlight fixed on the dancers. Fortunately, Marshall relied on three of the strongest pieces in Three’s Company’s repertory to carry it off.

Along with “Gurney,” a disturbing but mesmerizing portrait of old age, Marshall chose Nollet’s surrealistic signature piece, “Valse Triste,” and the brutal realism of “Dragging the River,” conceived and performed by McCaleb and ex-Twyla Tharp dancer John Malashock. All three duets are driven by a sense of dramatic tension that complements their powerful kinetic thrust.

“Take 3 More” opens on a somber note, with Nollet and Dabrowski immersed in the anguished throes of “Gurney.” The dominant images in this dance are tortured stares, bent shoulders and quivering movements that seem wrenched from the dancers as they respond to the relentless prodding of the score.

The camera never imposes itself on the dance, except to move in for close-ups that heighten the imagery: twitching hands, contorted floor work, anguished expressions and a final, futile attempt to kiss. This moving climax is so subtle, it can be lost in live performance, but the camera’s focus prevents that from happening in the video.

“Dragging the River” also translates well to the small screen, with its intimate give and take for McCaleb and Malashock. In this dance, Marshall said, “we did some manipulation. The section at the end of the dance culminates with Nancy dropping John, and we used slow motion there. Nancy felt it was a more dramatic ending than it would be on stage.”

The device is highly theatrical. Ditto for the slow fades and dissolves used strategically throughout the piece. Although some of the larger stage pictures are sacrificed when the focus is narrowed, the nuances of character so necessary to the dance drama are brought into sharp relief.

“Valse Triste,” on the other hand, falls short of its potential when viewed from the video. The rag-doll moves obviously defy such close scrutiny, and both Betzi Roe and partner Ed Menapace look too “real,” despite clown costumes and white makeup. The important elements of ambiguity and make-believe fail to come across.

Seen from a proscenium stage, the dance can be funny and eerie at the same time, as the duo etch out their choppy motional patterns, in contrast to the melodramatic music of Jean Sibelius. Only the final haunting image--with Menapace frozen in a silent scream at the intrusion of reality--remains as potent as in live performance.

The sound for “Take 3 More” is much more sophisticated than the aural designs for the original video. As a result, the music takes on a more important role in the program.

“Take 3 More” will be repeated at 11 p.m. Monday on KPBS.