De Jesús seemed to explode from nowhere onto the New York scene last year when Ballet Hispanico featured his work in its City Center season. During 2022 and 2023, the Puerto Rican born choreographer quietly racked up a perfect trifecta of prizes, between the Dance Magazine Harkness Promise Award, the Princess Grace Award, and a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship. This 92NY show from Harkness Dance Center, where de Jesús is currently in residence, is a promising debut—the first full evening of his own choreography. 

De Jesús refers to his style as abstract narrative. His works are character-based—he places characters in a space together and we watch them interact according to a set of parameters not fully revealed to us. In “Los Perros del Barrio Colosal” for instance, the nine ensemble members are a pack of dogs. Clad in blazers and slacks with crisp white shirts, they crouch close to the ground and toss themselves aggressively through the air, their open jackets flapping like exuberant canine ears. It’s a rough crowd. Some of the dogs get shot. There is nuzzling. We don’t know why or how—we’re experiencing this as dogs. A poignant moment at the end has one pooch repeatedly circling in a sadistic game of fetch, panting, tongue out, the sound of his feet slapping the floor.