Kylie Vernia was commanding as the Dark Angel in “Serenade” on Tuesday June 11th, and also in the ballerina role in “PC#2” on Saturday evening, June 8th. She has another year left at the school, but she’s already confident and polished. Kate Bivens, who will become an apprentice to City Ballet, employed suave decisiveness to keep up with conductor Andrews Sill’s quick pace in the same “PC#2” role on Tuesday. These young ladies made executive choices like professionals in this challenging part, and they did it with flair.  

Elegant Becket Jones brought a dreamy quality to the Dark Angel on Saturday night as well as the secondary ballerina in “PC#2” on Tuesday. The Saturday night “Serenade” cast was softer overall, with Ariel Erez setting the tone with her lush and sophisticated Waltz Girl interpretation. She lingered over the arabesque pullouts in her first pas de deux, and her reaching transition on pointe into the finale hops was wonderfully expressive. Rounding out the cast, lovely Lucie Richard was a more willowy Russian Girl than one normally sees. Impressively, she had the springy sautés of a much smaller person.  

On Tuesday, Kylie Williams blazed through the Russian role with tremendous power. She spun furiously in à la seconde in the Aspirin Dance (at City Ballet these turns are done in arabesque, which makes them slower) and skillfully phrased her soutenus in her first solo. Maya Milić was a spunky Waltz Girl, and she was even more fiery when she reappeared in Lovette’s “Tendu” for some amazing technical sequences with tango accents. Kienan Kiefer and Alexander Perone were great opposite each other in their “Scènes de Ballet” duet, as well as alternating as the “Serenade” Waltz Boy on different nights. And, as in their May performances across the plaza, Peyton Gin and Corbin Holloway’s partnership in “Scènes” was still going strong. However, their pas—and the big group numbers of “Scènes”—fit better on the bigger Koch stage.