By Jim Rutter

Too often, a dance work dies early. Pieces might appear for a weekend and disappear into memory.

Companies depend on disposable pieces to sustain the genre, and a pair of Philadelphia premieres opened Dancefusion’s Fringe program on Friday. The exuberance and strong visuals of Joe Cicala’s Glacial Markings balanced the forceful, pleasing symmetries in Charles Tyson  Jr.’s PostNeo.

But if new works provide dance’s lifeblood, a repertoire built on history provides the source from which it flows. Dancefusion’s mission includes resurrecting early and mid-century modern masterworks, two of which rounded out the evening.

An onstage percussionist accompanied the dancers in Daniel Maloney’s playful Suite for Percussion (1970), each of whom plays percussive instruments. Thirteen segments emphasize the elemental nature of sound in movement. The delicacy of finger cymbals fascinates a giddy girl, a fist slapped on the chest suggests sexual dominance, couples flirt with gestures that match the timbre. Small movements of the hips and shoulders coincide with a snapping of stones; outstretched arms hold cymbals like shields and clang them in a rival’s face.

Mary Anthony’s (1965) Threnody takes its story from John Millington Synge’s Riders to the Sea. Expressive, whole-body movements tell of an Aran Island matriarch who has lost all but her youngest son to the tempest. He insists on seafaring, his mother curses him; seeking release, he drags her across the stage by a rope. Matt Sharp’s reconstruction of Thomas Munn’s original lighting accents the still imagery, pantomime, and stark, repeated gestures.

Gwendolyn Bye’s mother flings a hand outward from her abdomen to signify the children fished from her womb. A chorus wails from side to side in agony. Daughters wring black headscarves into whips and flail the earth for its firmity. The haunting and triumphant passages of Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem underscore both sorrow and the sense of abandon felt by the son in facing his fate.

Threnody ends on a mother’s note of defiance: Not even this death will consume me.

$25. No further performances. Mandell Theater, Drexel University, 3300 Chestnut St.