PROVIDENCE - Somewhere between classic and contemporary, unusual and traditional, there's "The Little Tragedy." Festival Ballet Providence's season finale of Up Close, On Hope, a show of varied dance which opened last weekend and continues this weekend, is many things: romantic, eccentric and groovy, to name a few. The 90-minute production features eight pieces, each by a different choreographer. And it includes five world premieres.

One is most memorable: "Antonio and Wolfgang: The Little Tragedy." The work, choreographed by Piotr Ostaltsov, is clever, cute and very well executed by Ty Parmenter and Andrew Skeels. Unlike some of the show's other works, which simply celebrate movement, this one does so in an engaging story. It's a creative concept. Parmenter and Skeels are 18th-century composers. Parmenter is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Skeels is Antonio Salieri.

They've got very different ideas about music, which you can hear, and see. When Skeels imagines a composition, heavy operatic music (by Salieri) plays, and he dances to it -- dramatically, theatrically, very well. His turns are sharp, his gestures bold, and the whole demeanor of his dance is serious. Parmenter, meanwhile, slouches in a chair and watches. Then it's his turn, and he tries to set Skeels straight. Relax. Lighten up. Have some fun.
Parmenter also performs impressively -- to light comic opera (by Mozart) -- but all his movements, his leaps and turns, are punctuated with playfulness -- a little marching step here, a little finger wagging there. It's gravity versus levity. Each tries to triumph over the other's way of thinking. But in the end, no one wins, except the audience.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's "Paganini," a classical piece originally choreographed by Yuri Vamos, and restaged here by Milica Bijelic, Festival's ballet mistress. The work is romantic, touching and tender, a lovely exchange between a strong man and a soft woman. Eivar Martinez performs forcefully, executing, among other movements, a stunning series of turns. Heather O'Halloran performs delicately, appearing fragile.

For movement for movement's sake, Viktor Plotnikov's "Elegant Souls," choreographed last year, was quite appealing. The modernist piece presented six dancers interacting in varying numbers in a variety of ways: striking poses; making hand gestures; shuffling themselves in a line; and, in one instance, walking on one another. The dance, set to classical pieces by Bach and Tchaikovsky, is hard to describe, but enjoyable to see.
In other works, Elizabeth Jessee danced capably and confidently in Caitlin Novero's premiere "Be Free" solo, showing good range and resolve, underscoring the title of the piece, which was coupled with Spanish-sounding guitar music.

In other premieres, Mark Harootian's "Breaking the Limits" started slowly, and stayed that way awhile. But eventually a music change picked up the tempo and entertainment of the eight-person dance, which ended well.

Cameron Baldassarra's premiere "For Brian," was peculiar, by design. Two dancers spent a fair amount of time running laps around the stage. When still, they'd occasionally hug each other, and show subtle signs of robotic movement. The music, provided by Dead Noise, was in keeping, ranging from hard-to-describe synthesizer sounds to guitar to garbled voices.

The fifth premiere, Colleen Cavanaugh's "Little Girl Blue," was danced by Karla Kovatch to three songs by Janis Joplin.

Up Close, On Hope takes place in Festival Ballet's studio, turned into a 90-seat black-box theater, at 825 Hope St., Providence. The emphasis is on dance, not sets. The show is performed again Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 6:00 p.m. For tickets, which are $30, call (401) 353-1129.