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Ballet West's annual "Innovations" program is a rare opportunity for dance enthusiasts to experience the choreographic process and compare the progressive stages of novice, emerging and professional. The 17-year pro on the program, choreographer Jessica Lang, cautions audiences and young dance artists that "showing interest does not make a choreographer; you become a choreographer by making dances."

Saved for last on the Innovations' program, Lang's "Lyric Pieces" is a witty 20-minute ballet set to composer Edvard Grieg's collection of short piano solos, expertly performed live by Ballet West associate music director Jared Oaks. Lang's choreography intrinsically matches the textures and rhythmic patterns of Grieg's Romantic-era folk music as the subject and the substance of the work. The eight-member ensemble moves quickly through the 10-movement work, with breakout virtuosic solos for principal dancer Chase O'Connell and moments of unexpected humor by the effervescent Beckanne Sisk. Ingenious stage elements are moved on and around the stage by the dancers to organically define and redefine the performance space. Six-foot-tall expanding and contracting Kraft-paper design pieces created by MOLO Studio ultimately frame the opening and closing of the ballet with the same satisfying clarity as Grieg's music.

The evening opens with emerging dancer-choreographer Christopher Ruud's "In Memoriam," set to an original composition by Oaks. The ballet uses a bedroom dresser with drawers filled with sentimental memories as a representational element to build the dance around — a metaphor that overpowers the dance.

While Ruud's attempt feels like a narrative forced into a dance, the next piece on the program, "Barre Spot" by Christopher Sellars, captures the essence of a specific time and place with an undercurrent of character. Onstage performances by Oaks and guest jazz saxophonist Marco Blackmore meld the urban atmosphere with Sellars' playful Broadway tone. The ballet's structure would have made more sense had the pas de deux — dynamically performed by Emily Adams and Beau Pearson — been between the group sections. Ending with the pas compels an explanation for the group leaving the two alone onstage.

The two remaining works on the program are successful for almost opposite reasons. Trevor Naumann's "Homer" is inventive in shape and structure, with sections slyly delineated through lighting changes and madcap costume choices. Conversely, Oliver Oguma's "Fragments of Simplicity" is formally divided into separate entities, with the third movement slightly out of place. Yet Naumann and Oguma each effectively address their own choreographic question and create an absorbing life onstage.

Dancers Alex MacFarlan and Jordan Veit performed the opening duet of "Fragments" with studied expressions and physical control as if they were complementary forces of nature. In the second section of "Fragments," Sayaka Ohtaki embodied the movement as if she were its guiding spirit.

A formidable Katie Critchlow led the ensemble through the macabre "Homer," with its layered gestural detail and distorted gaits. Naumann's fantastical imagery, reminiscent of painter Hieronymus Bosch, was fully realized by its committed cast. —

Ballet West's 'Innovations 2016'

An evening of dance makers in various stages of development; and Jessica Lang's finely tuned ballet set to Edvard Grieg's collection of short piano solos. Lighting by guest designer Nicole Pearce and live music elevated the performance.

When • Reviewed May 20; Through May 28: Thursday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, May 25, 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 28, 2 p.m.

Where • Jeanné Wagner Theatre, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $49.50 to $59.50; artsaltlake.org or 801-869-6900

Running time • Two hours and 15 minutes, with two intermissions.