One of the world’s most iconic ballet companies makes its first trip to the UK in 16 years. New York City Ballet, in its 75th Anniversary season, is still much defined by the work of founder choreographer George Balanchine, but this quadruple bill shows a 21st-century version of NYCB.
Balanchine gets a look in, with 1972’s Duo Concertant, but the other three works were all made in the last five years. NYCB’s resident choreographer Justin Peck continues Balanchine’s music-driven neoclassical legacy in Rotunda, soundtracked by composer Nico Muhly. With dancers in practice gear, it has the undramatic feel of dancers at their daily work – and these are some of the US’s best dancers, with inbuilt speed, finesse and quality of line. Peck excels in passages where dancers deftly circle around ideas, retread steps and switch directions. They never settle, and the effect is that your eye doesn’t settle either, but is swept along in the delightful slipstream.
