The Tradition of the New

New York City Ballet's spring season at the New York State Theater opened like a piñata, with a shower of surprises. They ranged from the April 29 revival of Jerome Robbins's 1958 masterwork N.Y. Export: Opus Jazzto five world premieres—one an ingenious transformation of the popular Gene Kelly film An American in Paris, to the beloved Gershwin score—by NYCB alumni and current dancers, launched at a May 4 gala and playing through May 21.

photo: Paul Kolnik

Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour in Benjamin Millepied's Double Aria

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More About

• New York City Ballet
• Peter Martins
• Jerome Robbins
• Dance
• Ballet

Founding ballet master George Balanchine died 22 years ago; his successor, Peter Martins, grooms new choreographers to provide worthy material for the company's peerless performers. Creators of the pieces represented here include an Englishman (Christopher Wheeldon), an African American (Albert Evans), a Frenchman (Benjamin Millepied), a Dane (Martins), and quintessential New Yorker Robbins—a pillar of NYCB from its founding until his death in 1998.

[L] Ashley Bouder in Albert Evans's Broken Promise, [R] Jared Angle and Sofiane Sylve in Peter Martins's Tala Gaisma photo: Paul Kolnik

[L] Amar Ramasar, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Adam Hendrickson, Andrew Veyette, and Antonio Carmena in Jerome Robbins's N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, [R] Damian Woetzel and Jenifer Ringer in Christopher Wheeldon's An American in Paris photo: Paul Kolnik