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Review: Miami City Ballet, a Troupe at Home Outside Its Turf

Emily Bromberg, Nathalia Arja, Chase Swatosh and Simone Messmer of Miami City Ballet performing Balanchine’s “Serenade,”Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

Bold, light, immediate, intensely musical, the dancing of Miami City Ballet flies straight to the heart. This company is now 30 years old; it’s long been of international stature, with successful seasons at the Edinburgh Festival (1994 and 1995) and in Paris (2011).

On Wednesday, it made its Lincoln Center debut at the David H. Koch Theater, presented by the Joyce Theater, with a double bill of George Balanchine’s “Serenade” (1934) and Alexei Ratmansky’s “Symphonic Dances” (2012). The two works, made 78 years apart, are dissimilar and yet related. Both were created in America by Russian-born choreographers to Russian music (Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff); both are pure-dance works that hint at darkly mysterious yet openhearted stories; both feature a great deal of sheer running, as if the dancers are driven by the music’s gale force.

Miami City Ballet is here all week, with other works by Balanchine (notably the rarity “Bourrée Fantasque,” from 1949), Twyla Tharp (“Sweet Fields,” 1996) and Justin Peck (“Heatscape,” 2015), as well as Liam Scarlett’s “Viscera.” This representative choice of repertory makes this company closer to the New York dance audience than any other troupe outside New York: Balanchine, Ms. Tharp, Mr. Ratmansky and Mr. Peck are all choreographers based in New York whose work has enriched the dance life of this city. The Ratmansky and Peck ballets — both important creations — were made for this company; their intense interest to New York dancegoers will be obvious.

That’s not to say the Miamians are clones of New York’s ballet companies; their high energy has a warm sunniness that surely speaks of Florida, and — even by ballet standards — they have an exceptionally youthful quality. And there’s no better ballet company to follow on Instagram, with its perfectly chosen miniature film clips of repertory and individual ballet steps.

The choice of “Serenade” to open the gala says much. This was the first dance Balanchine choreographed on American terrain and with American dancers: those of the School of American Ballet. Over the decades the work has started to seem the foundation stone of American ballet as we have come to know it. Both of Miami City Ballet’s artistic directors, first Edward Villella and now Lourdes Lopez, are alumni of the School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet.

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From left, Callie Manning, Jennifer Kronenberg and Jennifer Lauren with other members of Miami City Ballet in “Symphonic Dances” at the David H. Koch Theater.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

The opening sequence of “Serenade” contains the three most crucial articles of faith in the Balanchine lexicon: first position (in which the dancer turns out legs and feet from the center of the body); tendu side (in which the dancer points a leg and foot); and fifth position (in which one turned-out foot is placed directly in front of the other, the tight-crossed key that will unlock space). The ballet’s many moods include classicism and Romanticism.

On Wednesday, Gary Sheldon conducted “Serenade” with welcome briskness. The orchestra of New York City Ballet is used to this music (Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings” — with third and fourth movements placed by Balanchine in reverse order), and yet the sound was leaner and clearer than usual, with striking attack. The ballet’s three leading roles were danced by Simone Messmer, a former American Ballet Theater soloist who now, as a Miami principal, is reaching her high summer; the exultant Nathalia Arja; and the ardent Emily Bromberg; the two solo men were Rainer Krenstetter and Chase Swatosh. The staging was supervised by Ms. Lopez.

There were questionable touches. When Ms. Bromberg held a single arabesque line that was revolved twice by Mr. Swatosh, wasn’t her arm stretching too high? When Mr. Swatosh held Ms. Messmer for a long time before finally lowering her to the floor near the end, shouldn’t her hands have been completely still? But these mattered little: From the opening tableau on, the Miamians made “Serenade” project heroically into the challengingly broad, deep, tall space of the Koch Theater, and caught both the sweep and detail of the music. There were many moments when the simultaneity of movement and music — flickering beats of the legs matching rapid passagework in the strings — was so judicious, so felicitous, as to seem heart-stopping.

It was fascinating to see and feel the connections between Balanchine’s choreographic musicality in “Serenade” and Mr. Ratmansky’s in “Symphonic Dances.” Here, too, were thrilling conjunctions of fast footwork and jumps with figures in the score: which is the three-movement suite by Rachmaninoff, this composer’s final composition (written in America). Mr. Ratmansky, like Balanchine, suggests love, fate and community- and also dramatic situations between individuals and the ensemble.

Mr. Ratmansky is a dramatic poet and a compelling storyteller, but again like Balanchine, he is happy to let ideas of emotion and narrative float upon a larger dance current. The three movements feature different costumes and take us in different directions. (The costumes, by Adeline André and Istvan Doré, heighten the drama — and its mysteries.) Having seen “Symphonic Dances” in Miami two years ago, I find it one of the most remarkable dance creations of our century.

Between the two works, the Theme and Variations from Tchaikovsky’s fourth suite for orchestra (“Mozartiana”) was played. This neatly served two purposes: It linked the evening to Balanchine (who choreographed “Mozartiana” more than once) and to two of his musical deities, and it gave the stage staff time to lay down new flooring. Part of the magic of “Symphonic Dances,” marvelously lighted by Mark Stanley, is the way its colors are reflected on the floor. The central movement is a ballroom sequence in which women wear blue, yellow, red and pink; and the final movement begins against a red backdrop on which four beams of white light aim upward. It’s a great pleasure not knowing what’s going on here, but it involves secrets, intimacy, romance, fear and rapture.

This is Miami City Ballet’s first New York season since 2009. What can be done to bring this company to this city more often?

Miami City Ballet continues through Sunday at the David Koch Theater, Lincoln Center; miamicityballet.org.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: A Troupe at Home Outside Its Turf. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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