The closing dance on the program, the NY premiere of Hans Van Manen’s “Frank Bridge Variations,” also had a mismatch between the music, the costumes, and the steps. Set to Benjamin Britten’s compositions, a small cast took on the score’s big emotions wearing simple unitards (by Keso Dekker) and flat shoes. The dark outfits and lighting, by Bert Dalhuysen, made the dancing feel a bit sleepy. Slow pedestrian walking in group patterns featured the hands-on-thighs motif, as if the dancers were roaming dark alleys with their hands in jean pockets.  That they were in matching unitards made it peculiar, however. The pacing was somehow ponderous even when the excellent leads were doing flashy solos. Qian Liu and Young Gyu Choi were a taffy-like pair, and Constantine Allen was terrific in a speedy emboîté variation. 

Luckily, music, choreography, and staging very much aligned earlier in the program, in the US premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s surreal “Trio Kagel.” This pas de trois was set to the accordion compositions of Mauricio Kagel, played lived by Vincent Van Amsterdam, who strolled in through the circus-styled wings and sat on a purple fringed tuffet. The bizarro humor was immediately apparent, then quickly reinforced by the vampy entrance of the spectacular dancers Kira Hilli, Lore Zonderman, and Giorgi Potskhishvili. They performed many challenging turn passages in between angry double fist punches, forward-falling arabesques with cocked heads, and pouty flops to the floor. The women were costumed like goth Harlequin dolls, and Potskhishvili evoked Siegfried and Roy in his sequined white vest and black velvet pants (by Dekker again). In a way, Hill and Zonderman resembled petulant, yet fierce, tigresses. They also gave off creepy, twin vibes à la The Shining.