Step back into the late 1800s and follow a group of rowdy newspaper delivery boys and their misadventures in New York City as they fight to have a better future.

With house lights up, white feathers float, twirl, glide, dive, and crash onto the black floor during the intermission. So begins the invitation into the hypnotic movement of Grand Rapids Ballet’s “Extremely Close,” the titular and closing piece of their current production, an elegant mixed bill of classical and contemporary dramatic ballet that draws inspiration from literature, Americana and inventive forms.

The term “gaslighting” has gotten a lot of play lately, with regard to personal relationships as well as the behavior of public figures. It’s used to describe a form of psychological manipulation or abuse in which a narcissist or sociopath plants seeds of doubt to destabilize the victim, causing them to question themselves, perhaps even their sanity.

When the building housing What A Do Theatre was no longer an option for the organization, its executive director didn’t have to wonder what to do.