Ashton Edwards rushed across the stage and straight into Taylor Stanley’s arms on a Sunday afternoon at New York City Ballet.
In “The Times Are Racing,” a fervent ballet by Justin Peck, that hug is part of the choreography — a freeze-frame of raw emotion, like a stop sign dropped into a sea of hurtling, sweeping bodies.
The embrace is a signal for a new beginning: an intimate pas de deux that unfolds like a dream within a dream.
Their performance glowed, and not just because it was newsworthy: This was the first pairing of two nonbinary dancers in a major pas de deux at City Ballet.
But what mattered more was the energy between their physical forms; the warmth they radiated even at a distance; and their phrasing, which was so fluid that at times they seemed less two bodies than one.
Persons:
Ashton Edwards, Taylor, ”, Justin Peck, “, ” Edwards, Edwards, Stanley
Organizations:
New York City Ballet, Times, City Ballet
Locations:
New