(courtesy photo) Emil (Stephen Lee Anderson) instructs Lisa (Chryssie Whitehead) as Jackie (Tyler Hanes) looks on in ‘‘The Studio” at Signature Theatre.

Playwright, director and choreographer, Christopher Ambroise’s ‘‘The Studio” falls in to the latter category. The dance-play is an interesting and thought provoking look at how a work of art is created.

‘‘The Studio” is set in unsurprisingly, a dance studio. Lisa auditions with brilliant but unorthodox choreographer, Emil.

The audience learns a lot about serious dance when the choreographer asks the young dancer to imitate all sorts of things by using only movement. Chryssie Whitehead is extremely flexible and graceful as Lisa. She can be the tide or an old boyfriend simply by taking a few steps of leaning forward in a pantomime-like fashion.

Jackie is the veteran dancer who has worked with Emil and knows his many quirks and faults. Tyler Hanes plays the part to perfection. He’s been around but is not overly jaded by his dealings with the difficult Emil, just accepting.

Stephen Lee Anderson plays the genius Emil with just the right amount of manic drive and aplomb. It would be easy to go overboard playing such a driven character, but Anderson uses admirable restraint.

The choreography is all geometric angles and formula scratched on a white wall for Emil. He seeks to create the perfect creation with the help of his dancers. They are merely his paints through which he will create a masterpiece.

Being a genius, Emil is suitably mysterious and distant. Lisa believes he is from Europe before being told by Jackie, Emil is from Pittsburgh.

Art is all mental anguish and agony for Emil. It is physical agony for Lisa, trying to perform the genius’s work.

Emil is haunted by his work with the great choreographer Balanchine and his attempt years ago to put on ‘‘The Rite of Spring.” He finished rehearsals but refused to open the curtain on opening night.

Even for the uninitiated to serious dance, ‘‘The Studio” is a moving and arresting piece of theater. The audience will find themselves fascinated by the sometimes brutally tough rehersals dancers have to endure.

It has been said there is a fine line between genius and lunacy and the character Emil dances right down the middle of that demarcation. The dancers Lisa and Jackie are wonderful to watch and root for.

Signature Theatre’s ‘‘The Studio” is a lovely way to spend an evening and a chance to ponder just how art is created.