New York City Ballet’s Winter 2018 Here / Now program shows what’s happening now in contemporary ballet through works by Millepied, Blanc, Peck, and Ratmansky.
Here / Now Ballets
Neverwhere, Millepied, 2013
Neverwhere is a ballet for three couples that French choreographer, filmmaker, and NYCB alumni Benjamin Millepied choreographed to Drones and Viola by Nico Muhly.
Millepied founded the LA Dance Project and was Director of Dance at the Paris Opera Ballet. He is perhaps best known for his choreography and dancing in the Academy Award-winning movie Black Swan (2010).
The Ballet features costumes by Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen.
Mothership, Blanc, 2016
Mothership is a ballet for four couples by French choreographer Nicolas Blanc set to music of the same name by Mason Bates.
Nicolas Blanc is Ballet Master at The Joffrey Ballet, and a former Principal of the San Francisco Ballet.
Mason Bates is composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mothership was commissioned by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Over two million people saw the score’s premiere in 2011.
The Decalogue, Peck, 2017
This choreography for ten dancers in ten sections by NYCB Resident choreographer Justin Peck is set to solo piano music by Sufjan Stevens. This is their third collaboration after Year of the Rabbit (2012) and Everywhere We Go (2014).
New York Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay called it Peck’s “most exploratory piece so far.” It premiered in May 2017.
Peck’s ballet assumes the LatinX position of fluid gender roles. In addition to traditional pairings, women lead men, and same sex couples dance together. From our contemporary New Yorker’s perspective, perhaps that is not surprising, but in classical ballet it is.
Namouna, A Grand Divertissement, Ratmansky, 2010
Ratmansky was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He is currently artist in residence at American Ballet Theatre.
This is a monumental ballet in which Ratmansky playfully reimagines French composer Édouard Lalo’s 19th-century comic ballet score. Essentially, Ratmansky turns classical ballet cliches on their heads for seven dancers and a large ensemble.
He plays with props based on Lucien Petipa’s original 1882 production.
Here / Now Performances
Saturday, February 24 at 8 pm
Sunday, February 25 at 3 pm
Wednesday, February 28 at 7:30 pm
Friday, March 2 at 8 pm
Saturday, March 3 at 2 pm
Here / Now Tickets
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