Here in Miami, dance audiences are thrilled that native son Robert Battle now leads the fabled Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which opened its annual run at the Adrienne Arsht Center to a packed, enthusiastic house. But elsewhere the attention is on how Battle will affect the character of America’s most popular modern dance institution, and potentially the image of modern dance itself.

We got a glimpse of Battle’s ideas Thursday when the Ailey troupe performed two works the new artistic director has added to the repertory: Arden Court, from revered choreographer Paul Taylor, and Minus 16, by iconoclastic Israeli dance artist Ohad Naharin. These pieces are solidly in the mainstream of contemporary dance, but are a big departure from the dramatically laden, physically full-tilt aesthetic that Ailey audiences have come to expect and love.

With change comes challenges. The vibrant intensity and strength the Ailey dancers exhibit in works like the beloved Revelations (which closed Thursday’s program) can make it seem as if they can do anything. But that uninhibited quality can make more restrained dancing difficult. And the lyrical Arden Court with its Baroque music and classic Taylor mix of swingy ease and exacting control, buoyancy and weightedness, was visibly difficult for them.

This was especially true for the six men (the three women seemed more at home with Arden’s grace). While they danced with an invigorating vitality, their upper bodies looked tense, lacking the openness that gives Taylor’s choreography its lovely blend of power and grace, and they strained on some of the quick, small jumps and footwork. Exceptions were Glenn Allen Sims’ smooth power in his duet with Rachael McLaren, Kirven James Boyd’s bright speed and swing in his duet with Linda Celeste Sims and Michael Francis McBride and Reinaldo Gardener’s playful, lickety-split duet.

But we shouldn’t write off Taylor at Ailey yet. The dancers have a weighty power that’s often lacking in the ballet companies that do his work, and also possess the necessary clarity and sheer technical ability. Taylor is 81, the future of his repertory is uncertain, and the Ailey company could yet prove to be a good home.

Minus 16, on the other hand, fit the troupe beautifully, and showed off qualities we’re not used to seeing in Ailey – humor, vulnerable humanity, subtlety and a different kind of performance verve. The audience loved Marcus Jarrell Willis in the sassy, quirky, improvised solo that starts Minus 16 at intermission and the moments when the whole company boogies down, making the stage bubble with energy.

It’s exhilarating to watch the entire troupe sitting in a giant horseshoe, arching and hurling to a pounding rock version of a traditional Hebrew song. And the crowd shrieked with delight at the segment where the suited dancers bring audience members onstage to tango and cha-cha to slinky cocktail music. Their amateur partners hesitate, then throw themselves into their moment in the spotlight, their awkward enthusiasm as enthralling as the Ailey dancers’ smooth virtuosity. But the revelation came in subtler moments, like an unpredictable, strangely sensual duet for Ghrai Devore and Boyd, who danced with a mesmerizing, quiet fire, revealing the dancers’ individuality and physicality in a new light.

Revelations was, as always, a stirring and soul warming delight, with Alicia Graf Mack’s serene grace in the opening I Been Buked section and Linda Celeste and Glenn Allen Sims’ fervent intensity in Fix Me, Jesus among the standout moments. But whether because of its familiarity or the contrast of the new pieces, Revelations looked almost glossily shellacked. It will be interesting to see how Battle shakes up that perfection.