Theater

Tango and ballet sparkle at Fall for Dance

Kicking off the 10th anniversary of Fall for Dance, two singular stars shone the brightest. Gabriel Misse and Sara Mearns come from different worlds — tango and ballet — but on Wednesday night, you couldn’t take your eyes off either one.

Misse’s “Esencia de Tango” had a flimsy premise about the Argentine dance’s history that was mostly an excuse to show off his fancy footwork. He and his partner Analia Centurion whirred on their toes and spun round, legs slicing in between one another like the blur of a sewing machine.

Misse also did rapid-fire flamenco stamps, and even cut a rug to Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” just for the heck of it. He’s a naturally gifted dancer who could be as happy on a dance floor as a stage. You can find out yourself Friday night, when he’ll be dancing at Dardo Galletto Studios in Times Square.

Mearns, a New York City Ballet principal, is a creature of the stage, and “The Bright Motion” — choreographed by her NYCB colleague Justin Peck — showed off her magic.

Clad in near-fluorescent white, standing in profile and rising onto her toes, she reached up and out as if greeting the sun. The rest of the piece — with Casey Herd as her near-invisible means of support — didn’t have many tricks in it: What lingered was Mearns’ larger-than-life personality.

Peck, who had his own performance that night at Lincoln Center, cabbed over just in time to take a bow.
The group numbers that began and ended the show didn’t have the same spark. English choreographer Richard Alston’s “The Devil in the Detail” was nearly a victim of its own good taste. In pale outfits, his group cantered through the smoothly crafted work, but even the Joplin rags played live seemed as if they were accompanying high tea.

Though completely different, DanceBrazil’s “Fe Do Sertao” was surprisingly the same. Groups dissolved into trios and duets of acrobatics and martial arts, all to a pounding beat, but like Alston’s piece, it never switched gears.

Fall for Dance continues with four more varied programs. At $15 a ticket, it’s a great introduction to a galaxy of dance — and it doesn’t cost the moon.