When hundreds of dancers converged onstage for a collective bow in honor of the opening night of City Ballet’s 75th anniversary season, it might not have been choreographed with the care that, say, George Balanchine would have given it — the scene was a touch chaotic — but it was astonishing to see so many of the bodies that have paved the way for a new ballet, for an American ballet. The company’s fall season was dominated by Balanchine classics. “Symphony in C” remains its own special life force. How could one choreographer produce so much radiance? (Read our review of the fall season opening night.)
Trajal Harrell
A choreographer who spends much of his time in Europe — he is the director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich Dance Ensemble — Harrell returned to New York with “The Köln Concert” (2021). Performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it paired Keith Jarrett’s best-selling 1975 recorded performance with Joni Mitchell songs; here, Harrell’s signature runway movement, lush and stark, had a new maturity, resulting in a dance that possessed the clarity of a jewel. (Read our feature about Trajal Harrell.)
The Ken Dance
The warm afterglow of the Ken Dance — unofficially known as the dream ballet in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”— lives on. This all-male number, choreographed by Jennifer White, comes out of nowhere in the film, trading a pink beach for a shimmering bright soundstage. Led by Ryan Gosling’s Ken, the number soars as dancers leap and glide into diamond formations. The crime is that there are no Oscars for best choreography. (Read our Critic’s Notebook about the dance in “Barbie.”)
(La)Horde
When the horde that is (La)Horde, the French collective formed in 2013 by Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel, made its New York City debut as part of Dance Reflections at NYU Skirball, it felt like a shot of adrenaline. With the Ballet National de Marseille, which it directs, (La)Horde presented two programs: the evening-length “Room With a View” and a mixed bill of work. Both showed off the collective’s view of experimental dance: abrasive and loud, soft and light, generous and healing in unassuming ways. (Read our feature about (La)Horde.)
Jake Roxander
At American Ballet Theater this was the year of the dancer. Or, really, one dancer: Jake Roxander, whose astonishing virtuosity and sparkling stage presence give the repertory a much-needed jolt of electricity. Over the past year, Roxander — who comes from a ballet family — has triumphed as Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet,” Puck in “The Dream” and in basically any role he touches, small or large. (Read our review of Roxander’s Mercutio.)