Yorktown Stage’s production of “Footloose” — on stage for just one more weekend — starts with a jaw-dropping dance number, set to the show’s title song.

We see Ren (August Abatecola) among his hip Chicago friends who dance like pros and who, this being the Chicago of musical theater, are dressed in all-black leather and sheer tops, just like in another Chicago of musical theater: Kander & Ebb’s “Chicago.” (There they are, at right, in a photo by Patrick Vanden Bergh.)

This is Ren’s crowd. This is what he’s used to.

And this is what he loses when his mother drags him to Bomont, a dusty crossroads in an unnamed state in the middle of nowhere, a town so backward that it has outlawed dancing.

There he is in church among strangers, listening as the town’s powerful preacher, Rev. Shaw Moore (the excellent pro, Edward Staudenmayer), decries “relaxed morals” in rock music and dancing.

The change couldn’t be more jarring for Ren, but what’s a boy to do? Give up and forget what makes him feel alive? Or fight the power and work for change?

This being musical theater, there’s really no choice: Ren’s a fighter.

Director-choreographer Greg Baccarini creates powerful stage pictures and his cast is rock solid. At a preview performance last week, each scene was taut and well-paced with energy to burn.

The beauty of summer theater is that it draws the best young talent the area has to offer. That is certainly the case with “Footloose.” Students who starred in school shows at Yorktown High School, at Kennedy Catholic in Somers and at Nyack High School — recently and in years past — make up an incredibly strong ensemble.

The multi-talented Baccarini also handled costumes for “Footloose,” a fine array of outfits that ranges from dungarees to dressy gowns and goes a long way to setting the scene.

The set — designed by another hyphenated marvel, set-designer-and-vocal-and-musical-director Stephen Loftus — is simple but effective: a bank of lockers, four pews, a pulpit, a filling-station gas pump. All can be moved to allow the ensemble an open stage to roam.

And roam they do.

Baccarini, ably assisted by Jennifer Bauer-Conley, sets the bar high for his young cast and they do not disappoint. For kids who aren’t allowed to dance, the teens in Bomont sure can shake it.

Even in the simplest of moves, the choreographers find an effective way of conveying emotion. In the song “Somebody’s Eyes” — when Ren discovers that there’s no hiding in a small town — two lines of dancers strut across the stage, keeping time with the music. It makes for a claustrophobic feel; there’s nowhere to turn.

Standouts in the cast include Staudenmayer, as the rock-ribbed Rev. Moore, whose booming voice also can find the nuance of quiet moment late in the action, when the preacher sees the light in the reprise of “Can You Find It in Your Heart?”.

Abatecola is fine as Ren, a kid who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. His voice strained at times when volume was called for, but his dance moves more than made up for any slight shortcomings in this department.

As Ariel, the preacher’s daughter, Kathleen Curran was a good mix of confusion and rebellion. She matched Abatecola step for step and can certainly sing.

Chelsey Alfredo, playing Ariel’s sidekick, Rusty, was a revelation, with a lovely voice that hit the back of the theater in the song “Let’s Hear it For the Boy.” Her love interest, Tim Gartner as the comic hayseed Willard Hewitt, more than delivered on the role’s promise with an aw-shucks bearing that was just right.

As Vi and Ethel, Jennie Berkson and Katie Leukens Chan Chee have a lovely duet, “Learning to Be Silent,” which Curran joins to make a trio — another nice stage picture.

Two trios are worthy of mention.

Alfredo, Ali Accumanno and, at the preview, Nicole Greenberg (standing in for Bauer-Conley as Wendy Jo) were excellent as a sort of Greek chorus in “Somebody’s Eyes,” with tight harmonies that were haunting.

And let’s hear it for the boys — Colin Brophy, Stephen Murray and Matthew Cramer — for their dance work in “Mama Says,” Willard’s comic take on his mother’s bad advice.

A couple of things were still in need of work at last week’s preview.

The harmonies in the love ballad, “Almost Paradise,” were a bit shaky, as was the lighting for that song: Ren and Ariel were in a strange and unflattering pool of shadow and light that didn’t put them in, well, the best light. (Andrew Gmoser’s lighting design was otherwise spot on.)

Also at the preview, two stage slaps were so poorly executed as to border on slapstick, a wrinkle that is easily ironed out.

Still, “Footloose” is a show about dancing and Baccarini and Co. certainly deliver on that score.

And then some.

“Footloose”
Where: Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce St., Yorktown Heights.
When: Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $25; $23 for Yorktown residents; $21 for seniors and students 12 to 22; $19 for children under 12.
Call: 914-962-0606
Web: yorktownstage.org
With: Edward Staudenmayer, August Abatecola, Kathleen Curran, Ali Accumanno, Chelsey Alfredo, Jennifer Bauer-Conley, Jennie Berkson, Tim Gartner, Katie Leukens Chan Chee, Nolan Muna, Benjamin Ashe, William Athanasidy, Dan Binder, Colin Brophy, Tory Clemente, Mickey Connolly, Matthew Cramer, Veronica Decker, Amanda Eventoff, Lisa Fiebert, Nicole Greenberg, Jennifer Jonas, Lynn Lisella, Stephen Murray, Brianna O’Connor, John Oros, Connie Reiss Taragano, Michael Serpe, Lauren Wagner, Sam Wolf.