Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Dance Roundup: Assessing all-Balanchine bills at CITY BALLET and an evening with A.I.M BY KYLE ABRAHAM

• By drediman
• September 27, 2025
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Aside from City Center’s ongoing Fall for Dance festival, the city’s dance scene has been in full swing. This past week, I had the chance to catch up with a pair of well curated all-Balanchine programs courtesy of New York City Ballet, as well as take in an evening of works by A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. As per usual, read on below for my further thoughts on these dance bills.

A.I.M BY KYLE ABRAHAM
Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center
Through September 27

This week over at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham is in the midst of performing a set of repertory pieces to commemorate the company’s landmark 20th anniversary (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). The celebration luxuriously features live music to accompany all three pieces, each of which are among Abraham’s more choreographically distinctive and thematically powerful works to date. Together, the trio beautifully encapsulates Abraham’s probing and socially conscious artistry, as well as his impressive ability to seamlessly incorporate various dance vernaculars into his creations. The evening kicked off with 2×4, which premiered to great acclaim earlier this year at The Joyce Theater. Set to an audacious and bracing dueling saxophone score by Shelley Washington, the piece for four dancers is outwardly rigorous, refreshingly abstract, yet still showcased Abraham’s trademark sensitivity to the music. Up next was the gorgeously pungent If We Were a Love Song, a collection of deeply personal solos and duets performed to some of the most emotive songs of the great Nina Simone (soulfully performed live by Grammy-nominated Baby Rose). The somber and dimly-lit work was danced with gorgeous articulation, giving the sensation of existing within the music, which in turn seems to expand and contract in accordance with the choreography’s needs. The evening concluded with The Gettin’, a work for six dancers set to award-winning jazz musician Robert Glasper’s take on We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite. Last performed in New York more than a decade ago, the piece — which seems to speak more urgently now than it did when it first premiered — is a defiant stance against the country’s long history of racism, which is given powerful specificity by the collected images of visual artist Glenn Ligon and Abraham’s emotionally pointed, period-inspired choreography.

NEW YORK CITY BALLET
David H. Koch Theater
Fall season continues through October 12

Just a few blocks north at the David H. Koch Theater, New York City Ballet has been churning out performances as part of its busy fall season, which commenced with a pair of smartly curated all-Balanchine programs (RECOMMENDED). The first of these included Donizetti Variations, the return of Ballade, and the choreographer’s one-act distillation of Swan Lake. The three pieces came together in a satisfying manner, collectively presenting elements of a full length story ballet. With its fiendishly fast and challenging steps, Donizetti Variations could be seen as representing the “peasant” variations. On the evening I attended, Indiana Woodward bloomed while performing Balanchine’s steps and was partnered by Anthony Huxley, who seemed to be still settling in after a bout with injury. Then came the long awaited return of the lovely Ballade, the pure dance divertissement portion of the evening, which glimmered with the unforced elegance of Olivia MacKinnon and the bright, clean dancing of David Gabriel. Finally, you have the principal drama of Swan Lake, which featured the gloriously long-limbed Miriam Miller — who has developed into an ideal Odette — and the princely poise and refined musicality of newcomer Ryan Tomash (who arrives at City Ballet from Dutch National Ballet). The second all-Balanchine program showcased the astonishing depth and diversity of Balanchine’s output, from the pristine neo-classicism of Square Dance, to the (still) strikingly modern Episodes, to the rousing crowd-pleaser Western Symphony. Highlights here included Emma von Enck’s practically perfect turn in Square Dance, as well as a slew of notable premieres in Western Symphony, namely the red hot duo of Isabella LaFreniere and Ryan Tomash. Across the two bills, the corps was in great shape — for the most part dancing with precision and assertiveness — although they did struggle a bit with the wicked technical demands of Donizetti Variations.