Perfect Pairs

For the sixth year now, the BAAND has gotten back together at Lincoln Center. That is, the BAAND Dance Festival, the annual Chanel-sponsored program that unites five New York City dance companies: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. The late-summer event has become a perennial opportunity for these companies to show off their emerging talent, highlight their recent repertoire, and meet new audiences who fill the David H. Koch Theater for what inevitably feels like a celebration.

Performance

BAAND Together Festival, featuring Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem

Place

David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, July 29, 2026

Words

Rebecca Deczynski

Adrian Danchig-Waring and Taylor Stanley in Lar Lubovitch’s “Each in Their Own Time.” Photograph by Rosalie O'Connor

The five pieces that composed this year’s lineup tapped into a united theme of partnership. Across pas de deux—both traditional and not—and ensemble pieces, dancers found themselves in pairs. Moving as foils, their expressions together had greater impact than they would alone, as the varied choreography inevitably led dancers to find their complements in one another again and again.

Opening the program was a whimsical and effervescent pas de deux, “Zephyr,” by American Ballet Theatre corps de ballet dancer Claire Davison. On July 29, corps members Ingrid Thoms and Finnian Carmeci performed the pas de deux, circling around one another with moments of lingering tenderness—something as human as a hand on the other’s cheek. The piece is “inspired by the wind on a warm summer night, inciting dance and play in everything it touches,” and indeed, Thoms and Carmeci positively float through tour jetés, bending cambrés, and sweeping lifts (one of particular note had Thoms casting both legs up in the air). It’s a lovely, youthful piece that finds a careful balance with intentional pauses, as when the dancers lie on the ground, Carmeci resting his head atop Thoms’s abdomen.

There are two other pas de deux in the program, with each offering a distinct emotional tenor. Where “Zephyr” seems to capture the lighthearted energy of young love, fresh in bloom, Alvin Ailey’s “A Case of You,” choreographed by the late, great Judith Jamison and performed this evening by Caroline T. Dartey and Christopher Taylor, is a study in passion.

Well before Diana Krall’s rendition of Joni Mitchell’s iconic song comes in, the dancers begin in silence, moving sensuously with a red scarf as a prop. The timing and control of this introduction is paramount, and excellent execution yields an approving audience response, as when Dartey jumps and straddles Taylor’s torso (later in the piece, she’ll garner the same amazed reaction, when she runs and finds herself standing upright on his thighs). There is an urgency to this choreography, and the dancers whirl around one another as if the movement is spilling out of them. They often appear to be in conversation.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in “A Case of You” by Judith Jamison. Photograph by Steven Pisano

Yet another take on the pas de deux is Lar Lubovitch’s “Each in Their Own Time,” a Brahms-set duet which Adrian Danchig-Waring and Taylor Stanley—both of whom are retiring from the company in the next season—perform.

The principals are a natural pair. Both have a strong sense of musicality and an easygoing approach to its fluidity, floating through pirouettes in attitude and fluttery temps de flèche. Especially as they take turns across the piece’s three movements—one moving through a passage as the other walks slowly and watches—it’s like they’re trading ideas or playing a game. The latter image is particularly prominent when they repeat a motif of hand-to-hand partnering, weaving around one another in different configurations. Rather than a competition of one-upmanship that one might expect in this kind of pairing, “Each in Their Own Time” most clearly conveys a sense of gentility between the dancers—thanks equally to Lubovitch’s lyrical choreography and Danchig-Waring and Stanley’s grace.

Two larger ensemble works break up this run of pas de deux. The first is “Passage of Being” by Jodie Gates, performed by a six-dancer cast from Dance Theatre of Harlem. This evening, Alexandra Hutchinson and Ariana Dickerson dance with Micah Bullard, Julian Cottrell, Sean Miller, and David Wright across three movements, set to a cinematic score by Ryan Lott, as well as Son Lux’s “Don’t Say It’s Too Late.”

When the dancers enter and form a circle, the stage is dabbled with light, as if it’s been filtered through a cover of leaves. Almost immediately, they find themselves in different pairings, sweeping through varied lifts and promenades. When they move together, they present their arms forward, as if in a gesture of offering, or swing their arms in a circle, while moving a leg back in rond de jambe.

The second movement of the piece elevates the intensity with a more passionate pas de deux, the ballerina contorting herself around her partner’s body and moving off her center of gravity as she is dragged back in arabesque. In the third and final movement, the dancers are sprightly as they spin through piqué tour en dehors. Most compelling is the final image, as all the dancers, save one ballerina, step backwards into the darkened stage. She keeps moving—almost compulsively, jumping and throwing her legs in grand battement, shifting from side to side until the curtain goes all the way down.

Ballet Hispánico in “Trança (Braid)” by Cassi Abranches. Photograph by Rosalie O'Connor

Ballet Hispánico’s performance of “Trança (Braid)” by Cassi Abranches makes a strong close to the evening, with a cast of 12 dancers. It’s a delicious, funky piece, as the dancers bump their chests in exaggerated pulses, walk backwards in place with their hips thrust forward, and roll back their shoulders. Weaving—of the dancers through one another—is a primary theme of this athletic work.

There are some particularly striking partnering moments in what is overall a compelling ensemble work. In one adagio, the dancers alternate between melting toward and around one another and flowing into airborne lifts.

Even in moments of unison, the chemistry between the dancers is clear, and when they move together as one, the energy builds. A costume change—from more form-fitting leotards and unitards at the beginning to billowing pants by the end—gives them an even greater sense of physical presence. Really, though, it’s the energy of these dancers that makes them so magnetic to watch as they continue to groove to an addictive beat.

Rebecca Deczynski

Rebecca Deczynski is a New York City-based writer and editor publishes the newsletter Mezzanine Society. Her work has appeared in publications including Inc., Domino, NYLON, and InStyle. She graduated from Barnard College cum laude with a degree in English and a minor in dance.

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