Music can often be an inspiration to a choreographer but it can also pose problems. As Val Caniparoli was putting together his groundbreaking piece “What’s Going On,” narrowing down the choices was the hardest part.

Caniparoli’s piece uses the Marvin Gaye song of the same name as a kicking-off point to explore the human experience through a number of famous protest songs. And the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and ’70s gave him literally dozens of options to consider.

“There was just so much to choose from,” says Caniparoli, who’s been associated with the San Francisco Ballet for more than 50 years and was named the company’s resident choreographer in the 1980s. ”Then, after making choices, I had to secure the rights which is often very difficult.”

Perhaps because Caniparoli was going to use the songs for such a unique purpose, the process to secure rights ended up going relatively smoothly. “I didn’t have much trouble,” he says. “Bob Dylan allowed me to pick anything of his that I wanted.”

Pete Seeger and Leonard Cohen are among the other songwriters represented.

“What’s Going On” first premiered at Richmond Ballet in 2022 and is being brought back as part of a performance titled “Studio Finale” because it will be the company’s final event presented in its in-house Studio Theater. Starting next March, its smaller-scale productions will be staged at the Leslie Cheek Theatre at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA).

Caniparoli’s piece is the 10th work he choreographed on Richmond Ballet and he was delighted with the reaction to it in 2022. “For several of the songs, I think people in the audience thought they were just popular songs and hadn’t thought about the words,” he says. “When they come up in the piece, people end up hearing them in a different way.”

In addition to the music, the piece incorporates bold visual elements featuring newspaper headlines with messages from various political causes. Returning to it this year, Caniparoli has spent some time tweaking those elements.

“In ballet, we don’t get a lot of previews,” he says. “So it was hard to gauge the impact of [the visual elements], and how the focus shifts from them to the dancers. So we’re rethinking some of the headlines and where they’re placed.

“The reaction from the Richmond audience was a revelation and I loved watching what resonates and what doesn’t.”

“What’s Going On” will be presented together with a world-premiere work, “En Chalant,” from Richmond Ballet’s new artistic director, Ma Cong. Like Caniparoli, Ma has anchored his latest piece in some key musical compositions.

“The most challenging thing for me as a choreographer is piecing the music together and making sure it is working well,” says Ma. “And it turns out there are quite a few composers that really inspire me.”

Two of these inspirations are German performer, Volker Bertelmann, who records under the name Hauschka, and Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. There are two songs from each of them in Ma’s new piece.

“Their style is very contemporary but they often use classical instruments,” he says. “I really wanted something very energetic and direct; music that all comes from emotion.”

Ma was also very aware of creating a companion to “What’s Going On.” The specificity of the protest songs in Caniparoli’s work led him to find something more abstract for “En Chalant,” which is a play on the word nonchalant. “I wanted to use my creative voice in a way that would contrast to Val’s,” he says. “I went with something very abstract to just let people feel the music and the movement, to just enjoy the vibe.”

Ma says there are bittersweet feelings about moving on from the Studio Theatre. “We have shared some great memories in that space,” he says. “At the same time, moving to the VMFA is such an exciting partnership.

“It’s a testament to the company as it continues to develop and expand. We have outgrown our space and it’s time to do even bigger and better things.”

“Studio Finale” will be performed Sept. 17-22 in Richmond Ballet’s Studio Theatre, 407 East Canal St. Tickets and more information available at https://richmondballet.com/.