A diphthong begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another within a single word.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Saturday night gave its Midwest premiere of a dance named after the complex speech sound, but the company’s four-piece program hardly mimicked the phenomenon’s subtle shift.

The eclectic repertoire has become the 25-year-old group’s signature. Saturday’s program was no exception.

In the aptly titled “Diphthong,” a work created by Hubbard Street dancer Brian Enos and co-commissioned by the Lied Center, six dancers in camouflage-inspired costume replicated in short, poppy movements the percussive vocal stylings of world music group Zap Mama. The dancers alternated between slinky swivels and abbreviated leaps, like popcorn popping in a pan with the lid on. Enos capitalized on the texture of the music with brief phrasing, and the result was playful and energetic.

Similar gusto accompanied the troupe’s performance of “Full Grown Man,” Trey McIntyre’s jolly ensemble work for 12 dancers to somewhat melancholy recordings by rocker Beck. Dressed in outfits suggesting Scout uniforms, six women and six men skipped, leap-frogged and jumped rope with invisible ropes in what seemed a journey from childhood through adolescence. At the dance’s conclusion, the “Scouts” seem spent from evenings of revelry at “camp.”

The most emotion-drenched works came in the first half of the program. Artistic director Jim Vincent’s inaugural choreographic work for the company, “counter/part,” sent 10 dancers through gestural phrases and soaring leaps to often-spritely music by Johann Sebastian Bach. A shirtless cupid seemed to have made happy couples of love-struck dancers by the end of the piece.

Perhaps the most mesmerizing performance was “KISS,” a duet performed by Cheryl Mann and Tobin Del Cuore. As distant church bells tolled, the couple emerged under a soft spotlight, both suspended from the ceiling by a long rope and harness. Dressed in simple blue jeans and white shirts, the dancers held each other in languorous embraces and then leapt outward, only to swirl back around each other as their ropes entangled. They seemed to be swimming in love, bound to each other for eternity.