The silken precision of this Black & White ballet, set to a Alexei Haieff composition in equal parts vivacious and quietly nostalgic, makes this rarely performed work a delightful nod to the reputed Balanchine style.

The captivating suspense of Stravinsky’s score, at times swelling, at others intricately layered, accompanies a trio of dancers and their compelling connectivity.

Robbins choreographed a ballet titled Four Chamber Works for the 1982 Stravinsky Centennial celebration. Five unrelated chamber works were incorporated into a four-part ballet; the third section, Concertino, choreographed to two of these pieces of music, is now performed separately.

A four part avant-garde work, Episodes grew out of Balanchine’s enthusiasm for Anton von Webern’s orchestral music, which Balanchine once wrote “fills the air like molecules.”

In homage to Anton von Webern, Episodes was created to the composer’s complete orchestral works. Balanchine invited Martha Graham to choreograph the first section for her company; he choreographed the second for NYCB, with an additional solo for Paul Taylor, then a member of the Graham company. The work was presented in full for two seasons. Since 1961, NYCB has performed its section alone, without the solo created for Taylor. The final section, Ricercata, is Webern’s orchestration of a Bach composition; Virgil Thomson has described Webern’s music as “a dialect of Bach.”

An abstract take on Aaron Copland’s well known Americana score, Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes pairs a lone woman with a cast of 15 jocular, energetic, and charming male dancers for a fresh and thrilling adventure that audiences adore.

Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor Justin Peck’s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, with a cast of 15 male dancers and a single female principal dancer, was his eighth work for New York City Ballet. In 1942, the composer Aaron Copland wrote the iconic ballet score Rodeo for choreographer Agnes de Mille. Copland later rearranged the original score for symphony orchestra, which Peck has used for his ballet. Upon the ballet’s premiere in February 2015, Peck wrote, “In creating the choreography, I divided the score into four distinct choreographic interpretations: The first movement takes on a kinetic, engine-like quality; the second movement elicits recurring weather patterns; the third movement calls to mind the synchronicity illustrated by two birds in flight; and finally, the concluding fourth movement communicates a sense of total vitality, bright fervor, and healthy competition.”