SPAC Premieres

Scherzo Fantastique (Stravinsky/Peck)

Set to Stravinsky’s eponymous score, Scherzo Fantastique was commissioned by SPAC and held its World Premiere here in 2016. The ballet for 10 dancers is Resident Choreographer Justin Peck’s eleventh work for New York City Ballet.  

Play Time (Knowles/Reisen)

Set to a free jazz score by Grammy-winning artist Solange Knowles, Gianna Reisen’s Play Time features a cavorting ensemble of ten dancers in metallic and jewel-toned, business suit-inspired costumes covered in pinstripes of brilliantly eye-catching Swarovski crystals designed by Alejandro Gómez Palomo. Reisen’s third work for New York City Ballet, this piece premiered at the 2022 NYC Fall Fashion Gala. 

Liturgy (Pärt/Wheeldon)

Liturgy is a contemplative pas de deux with a hushed, mystical quality as two dancers separate and return to one another with ever increasing intensity before disappearing into the darkness together. The title of Avro Pärt’s musical composition Fratres, which means “brothers,” and the religious solemnity of the music bring to mind services in a medieval monastery. Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has frequently been drawn to contemporary composers and uses a classical foundation to create works that are firmly modern in their feel and resonance. 

Love Letter (on shuffle) (Blake/Abraham)

In Love Letter (on shuffle), Kyle Abraham builds on the momentum of 2018’s The Runaway, reuniting the pop stylings of singer, songwriter, and producer James Blake and eye-catching costume designs by Giles Deacon, inspiring the Company’s dancers to new physical and emotional heights in a mashup of phenomenal classical feats and contemporary swagger.