A premiere from Zane Booker dancers

Live music makes all the difference in a dance performance - even when the music is nearly all percussion played by one guy on a drum set.

That was true Friday night, when choreographer Zane Booker's Philadelphia-based Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative presented the world premiere of Seven Stories of Love & Other Human Mysteries at the Performance Garage.

The piece was billed as a suite of romantic dances in celebration of Valentine's Day weekend, yet the romance angle was not at all obvious, and the dance felt more abstract than storytelling. Still, there was much to like, most notably Mike Pietrusko's percussion performance at the back of the stage, and guest artist Michael Thomas, formerly of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, who acted as a sort of master of ceremonies.

With the percussion, the dancers provided some of the score, through spoken word, vocal sounds, clapping and snapping. However, the acoustics of the body microphones Booker used were fuzzy.

A standout section of the dance had the entire cast perched on a single chair; the bottom dancer sat on the chair and each succeeding dancer parked on the lap of the previous one. They folded and unfolded into one another, rolled on the floor, and spooned back together.

Another part had two women as backup singers yearning to break free, performing sexy walks and breaking into little bits of song.

The movement was simple - sometimes even simplistic - but the scene was rich. A large cast made it seem as if the stage, very near the audience, was bursting with activity, and the live music helped it feel polished.

The program, presented by Philadelphia Dance Projects, also included ARENA Dances of Minneapolis performing Plastic Language, in which choreographer-dancer Matthew Janczewski explored the close relationship of dancers working in a studio.

His piece started with three dancers - including him - rushing off to work, one hand always on the messenger bags they carried. Next, they chatted - in voices too low for the audience to hear - and changed all but their underwear on stage. They remained fully committed to the rehearsal idea, even while executing turns, stretches, and lifts on a performance level.

One or two dancers took turns dancing while others relaxed and watched. At one point, two dancers pulled up chairs at the front of the stage and sat with their backs to the audience, almost obstructing the audience's view of the third dancer's solo. It was a clever trick, but the chairs remained obscuring the scene far too long.

Plastic Language was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsal process, but it could have included more clues to dancers' intentions and fewer sections where the audience was intentionally blocked or left out.