What: Harlequin's Piano by Canadian Pacific Ballet

When: Friday night

Where: McPherson Playhouse

Rating: Rating 3 (out of five)

The Canadian Pacific Ballet played to its strengths Friday night, with a mixed show of classical pieces and dance theatre.

Despite a noticeably thin crowd - only a few dozen audience members were sprinkled throughout the large theatre - the local company was all smiles, never breaking from their dedication to perform.

The show opened with the restaging of a Ballet Under the Stars favourite, danced to Schubert's Mass No. 2. In roles inspired by the stone angels found in churches and graveyards, Kira Christiansen, Amanda Gray and Ashley Evans were statuesque and graceful, floating across the stage and striking poses of reverence.

In the second scene, they returned in dramatic costumes of layered fuchsia and black tulle with glittering black jewels and tiaras, in a new piece set to Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

This first act saw company members dance for dance's sake. Here, the audience saw some of their technical strengths - effortless floating across the stage en pointe, soft arms and lovely, expressive faces - as well as some areas with room for improvement - out-of-sync coordination, low leaps.

Company members shifted to storytelling mode in the second act. Harlequin's Piano, another fresh original, saw each member assume comedic roles in a 1920s piano bar. Gray was the adorable firecracker in a flapper dress, matchmaking and matchbreaking the bar patrons with the help of partner Graham McMonagle. The story played like a silent film - all antics and expressive, clownlike comedy. Classical ballet blended with the Charleston as Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz and other contemporary hits helped tell the story.

It was nice to see intergenerational dancing, with veteran David Roland and the young Aimee Jones and Jonathan Hunwick sharing the stage - even if Roland's character's pursuit of the wealthy young heiress played by Evans was a little jarring.

Of particular note were fabulous costumes. From the grey draping Lady Liberty-like dresses of the statues in the first scene to Evans's fur-trimmed cloak in the second, designer McMonagle transformed the dancers with obvious attention to detail. The billowing tulle in the second piece became a prop in itself, when the three dancers fluffed it into heart-shaped explosions around their waists.

McMonagle, also the set designer, used space well. While the first two pieces required little more than complementary lighting, the art-deco piano bar was convincing even without a piano. asmart@timescolonist.com