Powell Symphony Hall was transformed for this weekend's concerts by David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to accommodate guest artists Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

As was the case for Hubbard Street's first appearance with the SLSO in 2009, the stage was built out over the first few rows of seats to provide adequate space for movement. Lighting towers were added, along with four black "wings" on each side for entrances and exits. Lights were added above the stage as well, while the players, dressed in "opera black," sat on a sort of raised orchestra pit three feet above the level of the stage.

The program alternated straight musical works with dances, opening with one of the greatest curtain-raisers of all time, Mozart's Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro." Robertson and the orchestra gave it a wise, sprightly reading.

The main feature of the first half was "Arcangelo," with instrumental music by Arcangelo Corelli and an aria by Alessandro Scarlatti. Choreographed by Nacho Duarte, it calls for four couples to assume a variety of occasionally balletic but more often awkward and even painful-looking positions; the dancing was more satisfying than the choreography. Countertenor David Stephens sang with a hooty, unattractive falsetto.

The second half opened with Terence Marling's "twice (once)," set to Anna Clyne's moving, elegiac "Within Her Arms." As a crowd of women and shirtless men in white mill about athletically, parting and uniting, a lone dancer moves through them, eventually walking away by herself as the dance ends. Soloist Jessica Tong held the eye.

The finale, "As few as 3000," by Alejandro Cerrudo to Bohuslav Martinu's Toccata e due canzoni, combined humor, athleticism and a little Bob Fosse in a graceful dance that includes everything from a boat made of dancers to a floorbound kiss.

The other purely instrumental works — J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and Stravinsky's "Dunbarton Oaks" — received sparkling renditions.

David Robertson, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra