Philadelphia Ballet presents three looks at speed, freedom, and moving forward

Friday night was cold and blustery, and both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were in Philadelphia. Between the weather and transportation hassles, it was no surprise there were a good many empty seats in the Perelman Theater when Philadelphia Ballet opened its latest series of new works, which it titled Forward Motion.

Those who faced these challenges were met with a delightful program of three world premieres by Juliano Nunes, Hope Boykin, and Andonis Foniadakis, all in jewel tones and pointe shoes, but showing off very different types of work.

The program opens with PS, from Nunes, who is resident choreographer with the company. In the program notes, he calls it a laboratory, but it is also much like a ballet class, starting with more simple combinations danced several times in a group and then breaking out into more freedom of movement — but all still very precise.

Set to piano music by Alexander McKenzie and Sune Martin, it has the dancers all in Mikaela Kelly’s green unitard and green shoes. This is one of the rare ballets that is often lit (by Nick Kolin) in shadows but still easy to see the movements and details.

Those details are particularly important in the Perelman, a far more intimate theater than the Academy of Music, especially with such clarity in each step as displayed here.

One section features an interesting and rare trio of three men (on Friday it was Jack Thomas, Zecheng Liang, and Arian Molina Soca), where one dances a role generally danced by a woman who is partnered and supported throughout.

PS was performed by mostly soloists and principal dancers, so it was not surprising to see the precision. Performers Dayesi Torriente and Yuka Iseda were nonplussed by multiple pirouettes or lifts that often sent them headfirst toward the stage.

Hope Boykin’s ENdure, on the other hand, featured primarily dancers of lower ranks. But Boykin, a two-time Bessie Award winner and alumna of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Philadanco, showed them in an excellent light. Boykin’s work often leans more toward the modern, but here it is all pointe shoes and classical lines.

The work, set also to primarily piano music by Bill Laurance, still looks every bit like Boykin’s vocabulary; with pedestrian movements, by the group, by someone dancing a solo, and even by Javier Rivet performing a leap that looked as if he were running midair.

Foniadakis’ CIRCUMSTELLARS used dramatic lighting (by Sakis Birbilis), fog, and original music by Julien Tarride.

But despite throwing so much at one ballet, it worked. His dancers came from throughout the ranks, and they moved at such a high speed that it was surprising that all the steps looked fully realized.

Along with the velocity, CIRCUMSTELLARS had plenty of risky moves, making the dancers (especially Mayara Pinerio and Sterling Baca) seem superhuman. Their costumes, with gloves, sparkly legs, and colored shoes (by Anastasios Sofroniou) made for a somewhat science-fiction look, especially when the lights moved, giving the effect of a hovering spaceship.

But then, alas, we were beamed back down and sent out into the elements of a frigid February night.

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Philadelphia Ballet’s new works program, “Forward Motion,” repeats 7:30 Saturday 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and 2 p.m. Feb. 11. Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Cultural Campus. $50-$239. philadelphiaballet.org or 215-893-1999.