Full and fully Masked House at the opening on September 21 of the New York City Ballet’s current season at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater responded with spontaneous applause and some yapping to the loudspeaker announcement welcoming the crowd gathered and declaring their usual warnings against photography and audio recording. The company was about to begin its first performance to a live audience since Covid-19 closed those productions 18 months earlier.

The three-ticket opener featured two iconic ballets by the troupe’s visionary founder, George Balanchine (1904-1983). It was programmed, like all posters for the season, with only brief pauses between ballets – no intermission – suggesting the frenetic rhythm so familiar to viewers.

“Sérénade” (1935, to Pyotr Tchaikovsky and “Symphony in C” (1947, to Georges Bizet) framed the other work of the program, “After the Rain Pas de Deux” (2005, to Arvo Pärt) by the former choreographer NYCB resident Christopher Wheeldon Very quickly it became apparent from the 17 dancers featured in the opening segment of “Serenade” that the time spent offstage had not noticeably affected their common aesthetic and expertise as ‘they quickly walked through Balanchine’s often windswept choreography, likewise Sara Mearns as the luminous in the center of the “Adagio” part of the “C Symphony” in four movements, with the support of Tyler Angle as a partner. was ready to take on and personalize any choreographic challenge in front of her.

Over the course of the season, with three world premieres on the program, other works by Balanchine are presented alongside the ballets of other choreographers whose works remain in NYCB’s rich one-act dance reserve. So far, among the stars are Jerome Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” (1983, to Philip Glass), in which the supple Unity Phelan, the moving Mira Nadon and the elegant Isabella LaFreniere have all made notable debuts; Elsewhere, in Robbins’ “Opus 19 / The Dreamer” (1979, to Sergei Prokofiev), Joseph Gordon, as the central male figure of the brooding ballet, made impressive debuts of poetic dimensions.

As for the brand new entries to the company directory, none more than suggest, at best, novelty without depth. The first was Mauro Bigonzetti’s “Amaria” (on piano selections by Domenico Scarlatti), a harmless, mostly wrestling exercise intended to feature Maria Kowroski, who will retire with a special program on October 17th. The gnarled affair, with the backing of Amar Ramasar, negotiates showing off the long legs that reach Ms. Kowroski’s sky, but a bit more.

Special attention was paid to the company’s ninth Fall Fashion Gala, which commissions individual fashion designers to collaborate with selected choreographers on stage costumes.

Sidra Bell’s “Suspended Animation” featured designs by Christopher John Roberts, who dressed a cast of six women and six men in often sexist designs that tended to disguise the dancers’ physique in multiple layers and frills. None of the music, by three different composers, nor any of the opaque section titles – “the object is to slide,” for example – helped elevate the 24-minute ballet beyond the diverse; somewhat staid parade maneuvers permeated the choreography. “Suspended Animation” was like a dozen models appearing and reappearing, eventually shedding the elaborate exterior coverings of their costumes while taking on modified poses reminiscent of the dancers’ classroom exercises, all without creating a theatrical momentum.

Amanda Miller’s 28-minute “sky to hold” was dressed in a winning fashion by Esteban Cortázar in vaporous fabrics that suggest watercolor brushstrokes. It was set to a score commissioned by Lido Pimienta, a Canadian-Colombian singer-songwriter who appears in the work, dressed in lemon yellow, as a sort of high priestess whose vocalization from one corner of the stage suggests both incantation and narration. Ms. Pimienta told the New York Times that her music is about “a seed that falls in love with a storm”.

The ballet presents a set of 12 framing four prominent dancers. Taylor Stanley’s always acrobatic movements, as the “seed” of the work, often make him work on the ground. Like her “storm,” Ms. Mearns’ loose-haired and often flowing movements suggest a force of nature. Nicole Pearce’s lighting, especially as it is projected to enliven the changing backdrops, helps establish moving atmospheres to support the ballet’s stormy intentions; eventually, however, as Ms. Miller’s choreography takes off in several hard-to-follow directions, her thrust loses strength and simply becomes busy.

And the race, so far, has failed to maintain the standards that prevailed on opening night. For example, the first performance on Friday of Balanchine’s “Western Symphony” (1954, to Hershy Kay) revealed a lack of repetition both on stage and in the orchestra pit. With two weeks to go and additional ballets and casts scheduled to take the stage, clear navigation might be difficult, but an 18-month hiatus cannot reasonably be undone overnight.

-Sir. Greskovic writes about dancing for the Journal.