Otherwise, I found the title, and the ballet itself, to be a little confusing. For one thing, overhead, there was light almost the whole time. The pendant scenery, by Mark Stanley, resembled glittering ship sails. (Actually, it looked exactly like Ingo Maurer’s Lacrime del Pescatore chandeliers.) But as the sails lifted one by one, there was something increasingly sci-fi about them. The costumes, by Marc Happel, were gorgeous, but also evocative of multiple genres. The men’s black velvet turtlenecks and slacks gave way to bedazzled clay biketards, and the women’s sexy, dark dresses were replaced with even longer, translucent yellow gowns with tiers and crystal accents. The costumes made me think alternately of Star Trek, Las Vegas, Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire. I felt a little lost in time and space. If I had to make one guess as to the setting, I’d say intergalactic dinner cruise.

Garner’s choreography pulled from many different genres as well, particularly the port de bras. The dancers slapped their thighs like folk dancers, pawed at the air like cats, swam, stabbed, and fluttered their hands like birds (to go with actual birdsong in the score of the last movement). Garner utilized flexed feet as well as prim Bournonville jetés croisés; sharp skids as well as classical en face leaps. There were indulgent cambrés and grand overhead lifts as well as broken lines and turned in knees. When the canary gowns—and sounds—appeared, it felt like we’d entered a dream ballet within an already very dreamy ballet. Garner’s dances are always exuberant and wide-ranging, but this was her least cohesive work yet. Though “Underneath” had beautiful components and moments, the thread got away from Garner. Still, I enjoyed it and I’d love to see more from her. It must be hard to flit between so many companies; by her 24th dance for one place I bet she’ll be more streamlined too.