The curtain rose on “Continuo,” heralding its debut in the School’s repertoire—a distilled study in abstraction, shaped by Tudor’s sculptural and introspective vocabulary, composed with British restraint, yet softened by an American lyricism. Created for the New York Juilliard School as a pedagogical tool, the piece remains a litmus test of classical discipline—a masterclass in phrasing, partnership, and expressive restraint. The cast danced with exquisite sensitivity: Jeanne Larchevêque and Camillo Petochi, Albane de Chantérac with Milo Mills, and Alyssia Ferreira-Casevecchie with Achille Delaleu-Rosenthal wove through its modular variations with organic fluidity. Transitions dissolved weightlessly, gestures drawn toward some distant, azure horizon—echoed in the pale blue of the costumes. The ballet’s continuous motion progressed to the notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, whose repetitions and gentle shifts mirror the choreography’s structure—each phrase rising like a breath held just long enough to feel its tension, then released into the score’s quiet, relentless tide.
The rhythmic thread of Pachelbel’s score was deftly sustained by Maria Seletskaja, now an orchestral conductor having previously had an international career as a soloist dancer. Her rapport with the corps de ballet revealed a lucid sensitivity and an instinctive grasp of musical phrasing in relation to movement. These same qualities flowed naturally into the sparkling scores of Helsted, Paulli, Lumbye, and Gade—music imbued with the buoyant charm so characteristic of Bournonville’s world.
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