Featured Image—Symphony in C with Morgan Fairchild and Joseph Gordon Photo: Erin Baiano

WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 11, 8:00 PM

The October 11, 2023 Anniversary Program mirrored the inaugural one 75 years earlier. Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco displayed the poetry, sensitivity and dramatic reach of arms and legs of Emilie Gerrity and Unity Phelan, partnered by Andrew Veyette in assisted promenades and more, exquisitely conveying the different moods of the ballet. Whether in a grand jeté or in attitude turns, all the dancers, corps and principals, displayed both musicality and unparalleled technique.

In Orpheus, the dancers’ clear movements looked as if etched.

This was the second Orpheus performance this season for the supple Ashley Laracey in the role of Eurydice to Joseph Gordon’s emotive Orpheus, Emily Kikta as the stunning lead of the Bacchantes corps, and the earnest Samuel Melnikov as the somber Apollo. This ballet asks the dancers to sink into the background, when they’re not part of an earnest, menacing chorus. The principals shine with emotional body arcs, expressive hands, beautiful arms. A strong, insistent energy characterizes this piece, sweeping the action along into a netherworld. Symphony in C remains an impressively fast and compact dance.

Again, the principals performed, eking from the music all the dance possible.

See earlier reviews of the same ballets: https://gigiberardi.com/new-york-city-ballet-75th-anniversary-of-dances/ and https://gigiberardi.com/nycb-performs-serenade-orpheus-theme-and-variations/.