Peck took his heroic theme, aptly, from the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony. Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung’s terrific costumes followed suit, evoking team spirit and Marvel chic. Sleek skirted leotards and biker unitards featured racing stripes in American Flag neighbor shades: burgundy, light blue, pink. Black accents matched the austere backdrop and lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker. All six dancers were all-stars, though they were culled from all three ranks. Corps de ballet member Ruby Lister and soloist KJ Takahashi held their own against principals Chun Wai Chan and Roman Mejia and divas Mira Nadon and Tiler Peck. Lister’s baseball slide underneath Takahashi’s hang glide into a somersault cheekily anchored the group refrain. This bold phrase resembled a superhero squad’s theme song footage. I could envision an anime starburst every time the group clumped around Takahashi as he froze in the air over Lister.

The solos were less memorable. They were so jam-packed with feats that it was almost hard to process them all. But perhaps because these vignettes were so tailored to their stars, each one had a distinct vibe—as if each dancer was competing in a different Olympic event. Peck spun like a figure skater; muscle man Mejia did burpees. When they paired up, he was an archer and she became the bow and arrow—a playful “Sylvia” riff. 

Justin Peck’s signature quicksilver directional shifts were the through-line, whether midair or mid balance. These were most effective in an exciting pas de deux for Nadon and Chan. Like the Divertissement pas from Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on fast forward, Chan kept tossing Nadon’s weight from one hand to the other. Their daring and her length made this passage sing.  Another highlight was a trio for the men in canon format, which provided more structure and musical clarity (which was sometimes lacking in the many in-and-out bravura solos). 

Peck’s recent “Dig the Say” (2024) pas de deux and epic masterpiece “Everywhere We Go” (2014) ran in the same week (sharing a bill with “The Naked King”), providing an overview of Peck’s last decade. “Dig the Say” is also a sporty display, with Tiler Peck and Mejia bouncing a ball to each other off the backdrop between technique-pushing solos. Her ability to pull off a double piqué turn with arms overhead and an extreme bend on the second rotation is incredible, yet the best parts of the ballet rely on Justin Peck’s choreographic wit—as when Mejia keeps tossing the ball into the wings and Peck repeatedly hops back onstage, and into his arms, with it.    

In “Everywhere We Go,” from a decade prior, Justin Peck was also preoccupied with his principals’ rigorous technique, but the finest moments are in the kaleidoscopic group work. When the large cast lies on the ground, each dancer with one leg extended straight up, the stage is magically transformed into a field of flowers or a bed of coral. When “Eroica’s” smaller cast does the same pose, it is a bit weedy and less effective. 

Likewise, in “EWG,” a nice moment hinges upon several dancers—Emily Kikta (who was on fire), Taylor Stanley, and Emma von Enck—performing basic pirouettes from fifth to piano pings Sufjan Stevens’s score. Chun Wai Chan executing loads of clean pirouettes on his own in “Eroica” was less compelling. Skillfulness and athleticism have always been among Peck’s top interests, though I find that I am always more interested in his humor and architectural groupwork. It was telling that all three pieces featured a soloist performing a center stage fouetté sequence from an en face, classroom preparation, and in each case, the turns felt like filler.