Movement trumped emotion in BalletX's November program at the Wilma Theater, featuring three world premieres that frequently relied on pace, rather than interpretation to transmit.

With all-star choreographer Matthew Neenan (co-artistic director with Christine Cox) providing consistent works supplemented by guest choreographers of note, BalletX programs have become known for their edgy playfulness, danced by some of the city's ballet veterans. The November program however, hosted a cast of new faces, many of whom have not gone through the traditional rite of passage of Pennsylvania Ballet corps dancing. The new lineup featured the kind of quick, athletic energy that was suited to technical pieces; missing however, was the grace accrued through seasons of performances.

Meredith Rainey, whose own long, sleek lines are as familiar as Neenan's quirky flexed-foot stylings, experimented with androgyny in his ocean-wave inspired "They Break," with floating costumes designed by Martha Chamberlain that purposefully disguised male from female. By eliminating gender, the dancers were able to mirror each other's moves without regard to traditional roles, and some of the best segments in "They Break" occurred in the bold, daring leaps executed. Rainey favored strong, reactive lines which sometimes descended into domino-like chaos, counteracted with facial expressions that were blank to the point of being belligerent.

    Summer orchestra programs seem generally be selected using one criterion: Will the program survive the beer and blanket test? As in, will the music stand up to the distractions of the summer season at the Mann, where themed picnics and fireworks tend to leave a longer-lasting impression than the music itself?

    Under the direction of Grant Llewellyn on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Orchestra opened a two-week run of the expected popular favorites and crowd-pleasers, while also plugging the lesser-known work of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a shining star in a program that luxuriated in easy-listening favorites.

    Easing into the program with Strauss' “On the Beautiful Blue Danube,” Llewellyn cruised at a relaxed pace that pleasantly contrasted the oom-pah-pahing that too often characterizes this piece. The languid tempo, though the perfect accompaniment for picnics and summer crowds, took its toll close to the end, however, as the final few bars came to their rather abrupt crescendo, taking the low strings seemingly by surprise at the work's close.

     Although spaced a decade apart and both hopelessly outdated, 1978's movie version of "Grease" and 1987's "Dirty Dancing" still exert an irresistible pull. It's hard to pinpoint the source of the attraction — certainly, Patrick Swayze and John Travolta were cute, but the films really succeeded on the strength of their characters: While behaving badly and acting like punk teenagers, they still exuded a powerful charisma that made thousands of teens want to get up and dance.
   That vital blend of attitude and charm was sadly lacking in last week's performance of Grease at the Academy of Music. The cast may have felt compromised by the substitution of its Danny Zuko for understudy Mark Raumaker, but the entire performance felt both coarsely performed and outdated.
    While the actors onstage played their guts out on the energy level, nailing that hand jive and cheesy dance moves, the main characters felt like carbon-copies of the 1978 film, but with a much less finely tuned realization of what makes Danny and his gang "cool" or Rizzo and her girls strut. As a result, the beloved tunes and familiar choreography felt as out-of-date as Danny's ex-girlfriends.