A long, exhausting day of rehearsal had finally ended at Colorado Ballet’s upstairs studio in the Santa Fe arts district, as a couple dozen dancers gathered their belongings and caught their breaths. But instead of heading right for the showers, they assembled around the diminutive young woman who had just spent the last few hours making them sweat.

Lauren Lovette, 32, glowed with appreciation as the group, one by one, thanked the New York-based choreographer for creating an ambitious new piece for the company, and for patiently teaching it to a large contingent of leaping, scurrying, athletic dancers – with major assistance from ballet master Sandra Brown.

This was a bittersweet scene, for soon the choreographer would be leaving. Only one more run-through remained before the dancers (and Brown) were on their own. Colorado Ballet will unveil Lovette’s “Three Views of a Mountain” as part of the company’s Masterworks program, presented on two weekends in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, opening April 12.

Unwinding in a conference room after the rehearsal, Lovette was all smiles, basking in the gratitude she received from the dancers — and then openly admitted to suffering long periods of shyness and self-doubt for years. This came as a startling confession for anyone who had just observed her at work, as she counseled individual dancers, confidently demonstrated each movement, offered gentle corrections and enthusiastic praise like an old pro.

“I was always self-conscious,” she said. “I read so many self-help books. But beyond that, I’m naturally a creative person.”

Her life as a dancer began in normal fashion, with classes as a young girl — but her transformation as a dance-maker was anything but normal. That change began soon after she left her home in southern California and headed east, eventually landing in New York City, where she continued her dance studies at the School of American Ballet. Almost matter-of-factly, Lovette recalled: “I joined New York City Ballet at 18 as a ballerina and then quit as a choreographer. I just got the bug.”

Clearly, there was something inside her, a gift for inventing movement for dancers and sending them into motion. And Lovette sensed it.

Peter Martins, director of City Ballet at the time, understood that same creative spark, and several years ago asked her to create a piece. But even that wasn’t the beginning for Lovette. Amazingly, she earlier visited contemporary-dance legend Paul Taylor and later joined his company — as a choreographer.

“I made a work for five dancers, using a Partita by Bach,” she said. “Over the years, I’ve tried out different styles of choreography.”

A challenging profession appears to have developed effortlessly for her. Local ballet fans who attended the Vail International Dance Festival in 2017-19 may have seen some of Lovette’s creations (she’ll be returning opening night this summer, she reported).

The invitation to set a new piece on Colorado Ballet came from artistic director Gil Boggs.

“He called me and said, ‘I love your work.’ He has a direct way of speaking,” she said.

“Three Views of a Mountain,” the middle selection in the Masterworks program, is built on a three-movement trio of that name composed by Minnesota-based violinist Kip Jones, who’ll lead a live accompanying group rounded out by pianist David Korevaar and bassist David Crowe.

“When I listened to the music,” the choreographer recalled, “I wondered, ‘What was (Kip) thinking? What was his perspective of that mountain?’ I ended by setting it so that the first movement begins with a group at the bottom of an uphill climb. It’s about their arrival in Denver, getting used to the mile-high altitude. You know, when you get off the plane, and that hits you right away. It will be about two dancers who are on different paths on their journey. Then, in the second movement, the music is slow and dreamy, it’s a cool, peaceful, romantic duet. That will give the (other) dancers a chance to relax and catch their breaths. In the last movement, there’s the descent, with lots of tumbling back down, with the dancers landing flat on their backs in exhaustion.”

Watching the ensemble run (literally) through that last exhilarating movement, everyone seemingly energized by Kip Jones’ perpetual-motion music, it’s no wonder that there were smiles all around as the rehearsal ended.

“If the energy was beautiful,” Lovette later remarked, “if I managed to get their full energy, then what I’m creating must be the right thing.”

Taking another sip from her water bottle, she noted that the few weeks of rehearsal had seen numerous changes along the way.

“I don’t mind those,” she said. “It’s part of the process. You have to accept that. You can’t let fear get in the way.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that choreographer Lauren Lovette was asked by New York City Ballet director Peter Martins to create a work for City Ballet in 2023. The actual year was 2013. Also, Lovette joined the Paul Taylor Dance company as resident choreographer in 2022 at the invitation of Michael Novak, not Mr. Taylor.