With a Bang

New York City Ballet kicks off its winter season

Mira Nadon, Gilbert Bolden III, and Miriam Miller after “Concerto Barocco” on the evening of Jan. 25.

New York City Ballet seasons tend to kick off with a bit of a whimper, as the dancers get their stage legs under them. But not this season, at least on the basis of what I saw on the evening of Jan. 25. A new generation is coming into its own. I was really struck by this as I watched “Concerto Barocco,” led by Mira Nadon, Miriam Miller and Gilbert Bolden III. These are dancers in their prime. In fact, it was the most exciting Barocco I’ve seen in a long while. Partly because the conductor Andrew Litton took a really brisk pace. But the dancers didn’t look rushed—they looked energized. Miller, débuting this season as second violin, flew on, those long limbs sweeping, legs reaching into space, body tilting excitingly off balance. Nadon was all pliancy, warmth, musicality. The two were in conversation with each other, following, answering, proposing, really dancing together. The ensemble was crisp, assured, and on the music (they could still acquire a bit more authority). In the slow movement, Nadon and Bolden managed what few do, which is to maintain the line and impulse through phrase after phrase, creating a push and pull, accents, flow. The way Nadon uses her eyes adds resonance to her movement.

In the unrelenting “Allegro Brillante,” which followed, the ensemble was even more impressive: luxury casting of all the promising up-and-comers, including Sara Adams, Mary Thomas MacKinnon, Victor Abreu, and Jules Mabie. With her fast, bright dancing, tight positions, and pin-prick accuracy, Megan Fairchild again proved that she can outdance dancers half her age.

Megan Fairchild, Tyler Angle, and the rest of the cast of “Allegro Brillante”

“Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet” was a bit of a let-down, but then this ballroomy, curtains-and-chandeliers ballet is one of Balanchine’s most formulaic—even the “rondo alla zingarese,” though fun, is pure kitsch. It had its high points and low points. I’ll start with the low: a series of alarmingly flubbed partnering moves in the intermezzo. And the highs: Indiana Woodward’s impetuous backbends in that same intermezzo; Emma von Enck finally looking like a ballerina in the martial-sounding andante; and Roman Mejía blasting into the air with such force, such panache, it elicited bursts of enthusiasm in the audience.