Early on a recent weekday evening, a handful of Pennsylvania Ballet members are putting in extra rehearsal time at the company's studio complex on Broad Street. Choreographer Myra Bazell cheerfully coaches the group through phrases, asking dancers to pirouette, releve, arabesque, snake and camel. Snake? Camel? You won't find those words in any dictionary of ballet terms. But Bazell isn't your basic ballet maker. She's a postmodern choreographer. The piece she's rehearsing, called Merge, will debut at "Shut Up and Dance," an annual concert by members of the Pennsylvania Ballet that raises money for Manna, a local nonprofit organization that delivers meals to persons with AIDS or HIV. An all-volunteer effort now in its seventh season, "Shut Up and Dance" has been a forum for original work created by members of the ballet corps. From the start, said "Shut Up" Producer Nick Stuccio, the show was designed "to offer a chance for the dancers to do something unusual." This year, though, Stuccio upped the ante by inviting three local post-modernists to set pieces on the ballet's dancers. Their material gets interspersed between works by several company members, including Jeffrey Gribler, Meredith Rainer, Christopher Roman, Michael Sheridan, and Ryan Brooke Taylor.

Choreographer Myra Bazell teaches postmodern moves to the Pennsylvania Ballet dancers.

Choreographer Myra Bazell (seated) teaches Pennsylvania Ballet dancers moves for her new dance, "Merge," which is to debut at the March 6 benefit.

By all accounts, the "outsider" choreographers - Bazell and Eric Schoefer, both of whom share director duties for Scrap Performance Group, and Headlong Dance Theater - have tested the meticulously trained bodies of the ballet. Christine Cox, a Pennsylvania Ballet member performing in Headlong's The Once Over Twice, observed that this intensely physical piece, in which women catch men who energetically surge into their arms and everyone participates in a mosh-pit sequence, has "some scary moments." Gribler, a charismatic veteran principal dancer with stellar dance chops, admitted that he had difficulty controlling a sinuous move in Bazell's Merge: "I'm still trying to learn this upper-body wave roll," he siad. "It starts in your head, then goes down your back to your pelvis. It's real slinky. They all laugh when I try to do it." Another principal dancer, Jodie Gates, experienced trying times in early rehearsals for Schoefer's Perigree. But that was because she was strapped into a harness tied to a long rope reaching to the rafters. "The harness is not very comfortable," Gates said.

She has since gotten used to the harness and is excited about performing Perigee, in which she partners Rainey in what she described as "a surreal dance" that's "very simple but also very beautiful. I think it will be interesting for people to look at ... I do some really cool things in pointe shoes."

Schoefer didn't plan on the pointe shoes. He intended for Gates to be barefoot, definitely the contemporary way to go. Things changed after the ballerina suggested giving the toe shoes a whirl. Schoefer became intrigued by new movement possibilities. He saw how "with the pointe shoes there's less friction and the placement of the foot is more exact. You can spin faster and longer as long as you keep your balance." So both the dancers and choreographers are learning new tricks, thanks to the collaborations for "Shut Up and Dance." "It's been a nice give and take," said Gribler, who is enjoying learning Bazell's aesthetic. "It's all motivated from the center," he explained. "Action and reaction. Ballet is more step on top of step. Then you add the arms. This works more from the whole. It's more organic and actually very comfortable when you let it happen naturally. "It's done something nice for my heart and my head, and I thank Myra for that." Similarly, the "outsider" choreographers spoke of gaining great satisfaction from working with people from the ballet. "They're so skilled and virtuosic, and they learn fast." said Headlong's Amy Smith. "It's been nothing but fun."

Lenny Seidman plays the table drums from east India for Pennsylvania Ballet dancers rehearsing for the "Shut Up and Dance" benefit performance for Manna, a group that assists AIDS and HIV patients.