David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, NY.
October 2, 2026.
New York City Ballet (NYCB)’s 2026 Fall Season featured a suite of dances: Justin Peck’s Pulcinella Variations, Love Letter (on shuffle) by Kyle Abraham, and two premieres: Auspicy by Alysa Pires and Shared Rain by Jenifer Archibald.
Pulcinella Variations, choreographed by Justin Peck, was a bit of an outlier on the program in its commitment to classical ballet. The costumes by Tsumori Chisato — featuring tutus with bold stripes, black-and-white check unitards, and colorful unitards patterned with zigzags and stripes — lent a zaniness to the classical ballet vocabulary. Pulcinella is a character in Commedia dell’arte, and inspiration was clearly derived from this source.
In the section “Tarantella,” KJ Takahashi, wearing a gold, black and white striped unitard with tassels attached to his arms that flew with every leap, was a marvelous jumper who performed with power and distinction. The Balanchine-esque “Gavotta” featured Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia, who performed together with visible ease and comfort.
Pires and Archibald’s premiere pieces made bold attempts at story ballets but often strayed off track. Auspicy, by Pires, opened with a large dress constructed like the Mother Ginger figure in The Nutcracker (but taller). Dancers emerged from beneath the skirt in gold unitards (costumes by Viktor&Rolf). Characters — Mother, Offspring, Community and Fledglings — were listed in the program, but the storyline fell apart as the choreography faltered between deciding which way to go: modern or ballet. The movement was expressive at times (set to Jocelyn Morlock’s music), and there were some nice lifts, especially one in which a female dancer, resting on a male dancer’s shoulders, leaned back into space and executed what looked like a walkover en l’air, landing on the shoulder of another male dancer. Mark Stanley’s dusky pink lighting brightened the mood but did not complement the gold unitards, which appeared muted in the low light.
If Pires’ work was gold sparkles, Archibald’s Shared Rain was black sparkles, giving the piece the feel of a moody So You Think You Can Dance routine minus the spectacle. The piece opened with power as a line of dancers in two formations — clad in black sparkly unitards and rain hats — performed a series of sharp, quirky gestural movements, which were quickly abandoned along with the hats. The piece then descended into a mush of movement lacking a clear narrative or consistent movement style, despite how it began.
Love Letter (on shuffle) by Kyle Abraham, set to music by James Blake, featured a mélange of dance sections weaving ballet vocabulary with elements of African, jazz and contemporary dance. It was a postmodern smorgasbord that had moments of true beauty and a touch of humor.
Abraham’s work embraced postmodernism through its seamless weave of a wide range of movement styles, quirky and unexpected costuming that created singular vignettes, and nods to classical ballet works. At one point, three ballerinas with arms linked — reminiscent of the “Dance of the Little Swans” in Swan Lake — popped onstage for a moment and then piqué’d off.
At another point, two dancers appeared in enormous headdresses and performed a duet like two animals in combat. A ballerina in a traditional, stiff-skirted tutu (costumes by Giles Deacon) skittered on and off as if she had lost her way.
The costumes didn’t quite deliver the punch they were meant to: the baggy, bloomer-type pants that the men wore made their legs look short, and several other costumes were unflattering in motion. As a fashion designer, Deacon created designs that looked more suitable for a stylized photo shoot than for live dance.
The highlight of the piece, and possibly one of the most compelling solos on the program, was a section performed by Taylor Stanley (who wore the bloomers impeccably), to Blake’s song “Where’s the Catch?” Stanley’s execution of the blend of quirky and jazzy movements (isolations and undulations) — punctuated by a series of large jumps, quick tendus and beautifully precise arms that carved out space in a single gesture — was a work of art. This section could have been extended, giving Stanley more time in the solo, but instead the sequence shuffled forward while his magnificent performance lingered in the mind.
By Nicole Colbert of Dance Informa.
Share this:
