Where “The Dream,” a Ballet Theater staple in recent decades, is a reliable showcase for the company’s theatricality, George Balanchine’s “Ballet Imperial,” on the same program, is good for displaying the troupe’s classical chops across its ranks. Unlike New York City Ballet, which has called the work “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2” since the 1970s, Ballet Theater doesn’t downplay the imperial Russian associations, using a backdrop of St. Petersburg. That’s a choice that might disturb some viewers, but Ballet Theater’s rendition also had aesthetic problems. De la Nuez goes for it, too.

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Persons: George Balanchine’s, ”, That’s, Skylar Brandt, Isabella Boylston, James Whiteside, Alonzo King’s, Alexei Ratmansky’s “, Jason Moran, Robert Rosenwasser, Jim French, Brandt, Calvin Royal III, King, Michael de la, De la Nuez Organizations: Ballet, New York City Ballet, Dnipro ” Locations: St . Petersburg