Stars collided Friday, Sept. 15, at the final curtain of Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s “Dance Series 1” at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts, when choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie took a bow for the world premiere of his rollicking “Salsa ’Til Dawn,” then got down on a knee and doffed his fedora in deference to the tall, silver-haired gentleman next to him: Songwriters Hall of Fame composer Charles Fox.

Fox is a behind-the-scenes artist, but you’d probably recognize his work: He’s the composer behind everything from “The Love Boat” theme to the Roberta Flack hit “Killing Me Softly.” Chances are good, too, that you’ve caught bits of Moultrie’s choreographic oeuvre without noting his name, because in addition to creating dances at American Ballet Theatre and more than a dozen other companies, Moultrie has also worked with Beyoncé.

For “Salsa,” his second commission from the Smuin troupe, he selected Cuban jazz tunes by Fox, recorded live by some certifiably hot ensembles in Havana and Paris in 2018. The results, repeating in Mountain View and San Francisco through Oct. 7, don’t add up to a masterpiece (and thereisa masterpiece on this triple bill, more on that in a moment). But “Salsa ’Til Dawn” offers a lot more moods and textures than today’s average pop ballet.

That’s because just when you think Moultrie’s going to settle into one formula, he brings out a whole new concept package, like the shrewd rock-concert choreographer that he is. And because Moultrie is a Juilliard grad with ballet chops, the concepts here are contrasting indeed.

“Salsa ’Til Dawn” launches with stage fog and laser lights, women in ballroom shoes and men in flowing Cuban shirts, shaking it to “Blue Pachanga.” But two songs later, João Sampaio is stepping out in a silver unitard to show off his exposed classical lines (what a perfect arabesque) in a slow, controlled adagio to “Without You.”

In “City Lights,” Tessa Barbour devours the space in a solo that stays mostly in classical mode, followed by two lyrical duets, and the stage is spare. But then in the final “Salsa Suite,” colorful square backdrops appear (excellent scenic design by Andrea Bechert), and the full 16-member ensemble floods the stage in flowing white.

And let’s not forget, along the way, “Yo Soy Confundido,” when six men dance with chairs in a manner just a few shades shy of Chippendales. This is showmanship of a variety the Smuin troupe has specialized in since its launch 30 years ago under founding artistic director Michael Smuin, though Moultrie hits the accents harder, as salsa should.

The middle offering on this triple bill, “The Man in Black,” by former National Ballet of Canada artistic director James Kudelka, is also set to pop songs. But it’s something else altogether: a work of genius.

The music is sung by Johnny Cash, but not his own tunes. Rather, these are selections from Cash’s “American IV” cover album, his last studio recordings, made one year before his death in 2003. Kudelka’s selections start with the Beatles’ “In My Life” and reach a peak of pain with “Hurt,” by Nine Inch Nails, aka composer Trent Reznor. Four dancers — three men and one woman — traverse the stage in jeans and boots, sometimes clip-clopping in a horse cadence to the beat, and often miming images and ideas from the lyrics.

The simplicity tempts you to treat it as a joke, but the dancers’ faces are deadpan, with Terez Dean breaking into understated and convincing anguish as her fellow dancers gradually fall away. Coaching this aspect of the ballet must be key to preserving its impact, so due laurels here to repetiteur Olivia Clark, who set this ballet — or maybe it could be more accurately classified as brilliant existentialist theater — on the company. A hit since the Smuin troupe first danced it in 2019, “The Man in Black” stands as prime example of the inspired way current artistic director Celia Fushille, who retires at the end of this season, has expanded the company’s aesthetic range while maintaining marketing appeal to its core audience since Michael Smuin’s death in 2007.

“Dance Series 1” opens with Val Caniparoli’s “Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino” (“Everything but the Kitchen Sink”), commissioned by the company in 2014 and set to Vivaldi. The “everything” here is in the movement vocabulary — cartoony slinkings, chicken-wing flappings, a repeating runner’s lunge — but this is also an exacting neoclassical ballet that, particularly in a tricky turning passage danced by Gabrielle Collins, shows off the company’s chops.

A bonus on this “everything but the kitchen sink” evening? For the Lesher Center performances, Fox himself played his song “City Lights” on piano. I’ve often thought that occasional live music is the only missing element at Smuin shows — a luxury, yes, but one that would inspire these excellent dancers to greater levels of authenticity. Fox on the keys was a fine way to start.

Rachel Howard is a freelance writer.