Nearly everything improves with age. New York City Ballet put on a program of commissions Friday night, two from earlier in the year and a much ballyhooed premiere by 25-year-old Justin Peck, a member of the corps. That last, “Year of the Rabbit,” shows real promise but needs to mellow.
The music is an orchestrated version of pieces by indie folk artist Sufjan Stevens. They’re based on the Chinese zodiac, but the ballet has only hints of a program.
Peck’s style is fresh, playful, inventive — and doesn’t stand on ceremony: In a surprise finale, his principals — Robert Fairchild, Teresa Reichlen and Ashley Bouder among them — blend right into the corps. Another time, he arranges the cast with the women’s feet on the men’s backs, creating a viaduct. As the stage darkens, they all put their fingers to their lips and loudly “Ssh!” as the music scratches to a close.
The piece’s later duets are the most striking. Janie Taylor and Craig Hall do a simple, ethereal dance: her specialty. But “Year of the Rabbit” is a little too long and too similar, with one abrupt ending too many. Then again, it may just be too new to tell.
Most of the company’s commissions arrive with a hard gloss that it takes more than one view to get past. Benjamin Millepied’s “Two Hearts,” from May, is finally getting there.
Even with the constant motion, there’s now more emotion. The cast’s personalities are peeking through the shell of ingenuity.
Millepied’s dances, like Peck’s, aren’t about princes and princesses, but young, contemporary people. And though the piece now makes more sense, the ending — a slow, almost mournful duet for Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle — still doesn’t tie the ballet together.
Christopher Wheeldon is the most experienced of the bunch, and it shows in the skillful construction of “Les Carillons,” scored to Bizet’s “L’Arlésienne.”
His ballets also improve with time. This one debuted in January as an intricate skeleton of steps; now the dancers have fleshed it out, as well. Sterling Hyltin punctuates her dancing with a pensive, isolated walk across the stage.
All the ballets on the program repeat throughout the week, and you’ll be able to catch a second look down the road. Peck has plenty of promise, but a few extra miles on the other pieces showed what is missing from “Year of the Rabbit” — time to break it in.