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In a first rate performance and just as balletomanes say goodbye to Harrison Ball, we say hello to the young talent, Domenika Afanasenkov. The cycle continues.

Recent retirements within NYCB have resulted in uneven performances, but there is still hope for future spring programs.

If the famous fairy variations in the Prologue can sometimes expose weaknesses, NYCB proved that it excels in pure classical ballet and not only in the neo-classical repertory.

Over twenty-two vignettes, some long, others short, a cast of thirty pedestrianizes ballet. The work suggests that who you are matters more than what you do. 

The company’s latest Firebird is Isabella LaFreniere. She’s perfect for the role. LaFreniere is tall, commanding, magisterial, with unusually liquid arms and an expressive back.

I must admit I like NYCB’s recent trend away from the themed programming. The combinations can seem strange, but the performances have more variety.

When she retires next week, part of me likes to think she’s not really retiring. She’s just decided to stay in the Land of Sweets.

Concerto DSCH received a raucous reception during curtain calls. It’s a classic closer for an evening in that it sends everyone home happy. It doesn’t below as the middle ballet. Programming gods at NYCB, are you listening?

 The melancholy ending was a fitting farewell between ballerina and ballet. The heartmelting, beautiful Duo Concertant alone was worth the entire price of admission.

The fall season opens with three Balanchine ballets and what felt like a gesture of thanks to a trio of ballerinas for their many years of service to the company.

George Balanchine's ballet brings joy to audiences year in, year out. 

The Four Seasons is such a happy, appealing ballet that the audience barely notice any unsteady moments. 

A Greek-themed triple bill is presented with mixed success, although Agon still stands up well, with Unity Phelan making her debut in the central pas de deux.

Partita has emerged as one of the stronger Peck ballets. If we see more Partita and less Principia, that’s a good thing.

Sterling Hyltin and Adrian Danchig-Waring are exquisitely self-absorbed in Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun.

Gonzalo Garcia bows out from NYCB with a ridiculously ambitious program of Robbins, Peck and Balanchine.

Balanchine's unbreakable Serenade leads a mixed bill that includes his less than inspired one-act version of Swan Lake.

A trio of audience-pleasing Balanchine ballets as a blizzard blows through New York City...

The NYCB dancers are very at-home in this idiom, and they threw themselves wholeheartedly into this ballet. It was never less than watchable, but the music cried out for more avante-garde choreography than Peck provided.

After the cancellation of New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker season in 2020, the warhorse to end all warhorses returns to delight holiday audiences. 

A matinee performance that was bright and polished across the board, boding well for the company's future. 

Several important firsts at New York City Ballet: two female choreographers; the first black female choreographer; the first collaboration between a female choreographer and female composer. But the longstanding practice of pairing choreographers with fashion designers continues to prove problematic.  

NYCB has always had a mission to present new works and Saturday's program included Amaria, a creation by Mauro Bigonzetti for retiring ballerina Maria Kowroski.

To celebrate its return to the theatre after lockdown, New York City Ballet pulled out all the stops with a triple bill of Balanchine's Serenade and Symphony in C and Wheeldon's After the Rain. The house went wild. 

Sofia Coppola's film closed on a note of optimism. The message seemed to be: “Normality is just around the corner. We’re coming back.” 

After the success of The Runaway, it wasn’t surprising that Kyle Abraham was tapped to create a new work for NYCB’s 2021 Digital Season.

New York City Ballet ends its Fall Digital Season with a festival of new choreography, including works by Justin Peck and Pam Tanowitz. 

Alexei Ratmansky draws out exceptional individual qualities of each of five ballerinas in his intriguing world premiere for New York City Ballet, set to spoken word and live piano.

Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck and Megan Fairchild were at the top of their game in a Balanchine triple bill at New York City Ballet

From the frivolous to the profound, New York City Ballet celebrates the galvanizing partnership of George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky.

Balanchine’s Nutcracker may have premiered in 1954, but every year tickets sell out for this festive treat. 

Judging by the enthusiastic audience reactions to this program one might have to rethink the modern/ballet divide. Maybe there’s only two types of dance – good dance and bad dance. 

Disappointing new creations in NYCB's Fall Fashion Gala, leaving Balanchine's Symphony in C as a surefire closer. 

Union Jack isn't a Balanchine masterpiece – it's more of a fun-sterpiece, which is even better.

Whatever your taste in ballet, this program probably had it: Wheeldon's DGV meets Balanchine's Door and a Sigh and Raymonda Variations. 

A sharp, well-drilled ensemble and heavenly Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky couldn't adequately compensate for the mixed bag of principal performances and the outdated look of Balanchine's Jewels at New York City Ballet.

Yet the audience loved it, just as they love every performance of A Midsummer's Night DreamI've ever attended. This ballet is a tribute to Shakespeare, a tribute to love, a tribute to dance. One walks out feeling as if one's "soul is in the sky."

The ending of Stars and Stripesis a sure-fire applause machine. The lowering of the flag while all the regiments march and salute onstage is so corny that only Balanchine could have choreographed it with a straight face. And yet it worked in 1958 and it works in 2019. 

Ballets live and die by their scores – as Balanchine knew when he kept returning to Stravinsky. His Symphony in Three Movements will live forever, as will Justin Peck's The Times are Racing, to Dan Deacon's America.

Modern dance choreographer Pam Tanowitz' first commission for New York City Ballet proved unruly yet fascinating, sandwiched between George Balanchine's enduring Valse-Fantaisie and Western Symphony.

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle at the top of their game in Diamonds. A smoking performance from Sara Mearns in Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Strong debuts from Emma Von Enck and Taylor Stanley and a memorable classical turn by Aaron Sanz in the Barber.

An imperfect performance, but after Tanowitz's muddled Bartók, Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Suite no. 3 was like balm.

A triple bill of 21st-century ballets at the Koch Theater sees the return of Alexei Ratmansky's masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition. 

An all-Balanchine program that is remarkably energetic and free at New York City Ballet

As City Ballet grapples with lawsuits and lurid accusations, and the loss of an unprecendented number of male principals, new works by Kyle Abraham, Gianna Reisen, and Matthew Neenan stoke inspired performances from the dancers. 

When de Luz reached down and laid his hand on the floor in the final Nocturne, it suggested to me that, on this night and with these dancers, the stage was sacred ground.

Alexei Ratmansky and Justin Peck are all the more impressive among choreographers working today because of how many of their works seem destined to stay in the repertoire for a long time to come.

Tiler Peck is at her peak as an artist and let’s hope it lasts a long time.

Twelve years after its creation, we’re still talking about what’s going on in Russian Seasons and we’re still looking forward to what the next dancer in gold, or red, or green will do with the role.

This program was a good one to inspire your confidence about the future of choreography.