Jiří Kylián’s PETITE MORT

Visual surprises abound in this tantalizing contemporary ballet, which blends a classical sensibility with a bold, modern wit. The choreography includes six men, six women, and six fencing foils. The foils are, in many ways, the men’s real dancing partners and sometimes turn out to be more stubborn and willful than a human partner. Kylián also makes playful use of black baroque dresses, which seem to exist both separately from the dancers and molded to their bodies.