ABT’s Incubator program, now in its fifth year, brings a cohort of young choreographers to the company’s studios for a two-week residency each January that includes studio time, a cast of two to three dancers from ABT’s corps and apprentice ranks, choreographic coaching—and complete artistic freedom to create a 5- to 10-minute work. And for the first time, the 2023 Incubator culminated in a live performance that took place on January 13 at Pace University.

“Don’t look at the mirror, look at your feet,” Michelle Dorrance corrects. Smiling at the counterintuitive suggestion, Gillian Murphy, Devon Teuscher and Christine Shevchenko—American Ballet Theatre principals accustomed to projecting up and out to opera house balconies—look down at their pointe shoes as they shuffle into a line of tight fifth positions. As polyrhythmic strains […]