New York City Ballet opened its fall season on September 22 with George Balanchine's audience favorite Jewels before launching into four weeks of wide-ranging programming that includes several world premieres, a Balanchine revival unseen at the company since 1969, and a farewell to a longtime principal dancer.

"I always really try to touch on the spectrum of our repertory," associate artistic director Wendy Whelan tells Pointe of her approach. "I have to really touch base with our legacy works, and then focus [on] the future, and then get some of the middle meat that we haven't seen in a while."

Three New Works at the Fall Fashion Gala

NYCB's annual Fall Fashion Gala on October 1, which pairs fashion designers with choreographers, will feature three world premieres. Among them is the company's first-ever collaboration with Jennifer Archibald, founder and artistic director of the Arch Dance Company. Archibald makes her NYCB debut with a new work for eight dancers, costumed by designer Robert Wun.

"She's been so prolific, and I really started hearing from other directors about how great she was for their companies to work with," Whelan says. "There's a good handful of dancers that we're going to see really new things out of, which will be fun."

The evening also presents a new pas de deux by resident choreographer Justin Peck, starring principal dancers — and real-life couple — Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in designs by Simone Rocha.

"It's a very special, intimate duet that's being designed specifically for these two dancers," Justin Peck says. "I think it's a way to really speak to where they both are at this point in their lives and in their careers. It feels like a real capsule of this moment."

Choreographer Alysa Pires also returns for her second NYCB commission, in collaboration with designers Viktor&Rolf. Pires, whose first work for the company, Standard Deviation, premiered in 2023, crafts "wonderfully constructed pieces" with carpenter-like precision, according to Whelan.

Balanchine's Pithoprakta Returns

Balanchine's Pithoprakta, meaning "action by probabilities," may not be new, but it will likely feel that way — NYCB has not performed it since 1969. Balanchine muse Suzanne Farrell, who originated the female lead in 1968, brought the ballet to the company's attention about a year ago. She had previously mounted a rare revival with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center and New York City Center nearly two decades ago, and returned to NYCB to stage this production.

"She sent me the video, and I was smitten," Whelan says. "I was like, 'This is Balanchine like I've never seen Balanchine before.'"

The dancers must navigate Iannis Xenakis' unusual, anxiety-inducing score of the same name. Farrell asked that the conductor be present as much as possible while the dancers worked through the music's tricky sound cues and counts. The choreography — innovative, wild, and from an experimental late-1960s period for Balanchine — builds a swirling energy in which the two lead dancers feed off each other yet barely touch during the roughly 12-minute piece.

Dancers Mira Nadon and Davide Riccardo, along with Unity Phelan and David Gabriel, have been tasked with the central pas de deux; Dominika Afanasenkov and Andres Zuniga are also rehearsing the roles.

"They're all really interesting," Whelan says of the dancers' approaches. "[Pithoprakta] brings new things out of people, because it's so unexpected that the dancers tackle the different qualities in their own way. It's like each dancer is given this puzzle. How are you going to present this puzzle physically and musically?"

Adrian Danchig-Waring's Farewell

The season closes on October 18 with a one-time-only program honoring principal dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring as he concludes a 24-year career with the company. The California native joined NYCB as an apprentice in 2002 and rose to principal in 2013. Whelan credits him with a clarity and intelligence he has brought to works such as Balanchine's black-and-white ballets — two of which he has chosen to dance in his finale. "I think those are his deep loves," she says.

For his final performance, Danchig-Waring will dance in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments and Agon, as well as Lar Lubovitch's Each In Their Own Time, a role he originated at New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival in 2021. Choreographer Pam Tanowitz is also creating a new "pièce d'occasion" for Danchig-Waring and three principal ballerinas near and dear to his career.

He is not leaving the company entirely: after his final bow, Danchig-Waring will continue as artistic director of the NYCB-affiliated New York Choreographic Institute.