Justin Peck’s “The Wind-Up” premieres at New York City Ballet, review says

Justin Peck’s new ballet, The Wind-Up, set to the first movement of Beethoven’s “Eroica,” premiered on Thursday at New York City Ballet, the review says. The review finds that the piece, Peck’s 26th work for the company, does not rise to the challenge of the “Eroica” but is refreshing in other ways.

Peck uses a modest cast of six drawn from some of the company’s strongest dancers, and the ballet’s vocabulary is described as a kind of “sporty classical.” Specific moments drew mixed responses: a powerful musical moment in the first movement is barely marked in a duet for Mira Nadon and Chun Wai Chan, and an earlier duet for Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia turns a repeated slashing chord into what the review calls a weak joke when Peck is carried offstage and Mejia is left holding nothing.

The production’s costumes, by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, reinforce the sporty feel with stripes and curves of color; Tiler Peck’s costume includes a small rainbow on her chest. Choreographic motifs include a circusy sequence led by Daniel Ulbricht and a rolling moment for Mia Williams, a motif that returns reversed, and a group tableau likened to a three-tiered wedding cake.

The casting is noted as generous, giving Ulbricht a chance for virtuosity and offering Williams, a corps member, an opportunity to dance alongside principals.

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