American Ballet Theater Perform "Petal" & "Petite Mort" at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 30 October 2026 14:41

Written by Jack Angstreich

James Whiteside, Madison Brown, and Calvin Royal III in Petal. Photo: Nir Arieli.

At Lincoln Center’s wonderful David H. Koch Theater, on the night of Wednesday, October 21st, I had the considerable pleasure to attend a marvelous mixed program of dance works presented by the outstanding American Ballet Theater, the first of its fall season.

After opening remarks by Susan Jaffe, the Artistic Director of Ballet Theater, the event started splendidly with an admirable performance of Helen Pickett’s remarkable Petal, from 2008, originally commissioned by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and here receiving its company premiere. The piece features a beautiful score: two excerpts from Philip Glass’s “dance opera,” Les Enfants Terribles, after Jean Cocteau’s eponymous novel, as well as the end title music from Thomas Newman’s soundtrack for the film, Little Children. (The connection with Glass recalls Jerome Robbins’s Glass Pieces which would seem to be a likely influence.) The attractive costumes were designed by Nete Joseph, and the excellent lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker. The performance featured a superior cast, including Lauren Bonfiglio, Tristan Brosnan, Madison Brown, Jacob Clerico, Fangqi Li, Calvin Royal III, Sunmi Park, and James Whiteside. 

Also rewarding was the next work, Petite Mort, by the distinguished choreographer, Jiří Kylián, which, despite certain modern inflections, bore a stronger relation to the classical vocabulary. This piece had the most glorious score on the program: two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s greatest slow movements from his piano concerti, i.e., the Adagio from the A Major K. 488 and the Andante from the C Major K. 467, the celebrated Elvira Madigan concerto. (Evangelos Spanos was the impressive piano soloist, with the orchestra conducted by Charles Barker.) The elegant costumes were designed by Joke Visser and the effective lighting by Joop Caboort. The cast here was even starrier, with Park, Li, Brosnan, and Whiteside again, along with Zimmi Coker, João Menegussi, Betsy McBride, Carlos Gonzalez, Chloe Misseldine, Thomas Forster, Hee Seo, and Isaac Hernández.

The highlight of the evening by far, however, was the concluding selection which hadn’t been performed by this company in three decades: the magnificent Paquita, choreographed by the now legendary Natalia Makarova, after that of the immortal Marius Petipa, set to a charming score by Ludwig Minkus, orchestrated by John Lanchbery. (The conductor was David LaMarche.) The sets and winsome costumes were designed by Jose Varona. This had the finest cast of all led by the astonishing Devon Teuscher and Joo Won Ahn, along with Yoon Jung Seo, Sierra Armstrong, Breanne Granlund, and Léa Fleytoux. (The superb corps de ballet were also featured.) 

The artists, including Makarova herself who finally entered the stage, deservedly received a standing ovation.