Strawberry blonde next to ebony is striking.
And so it proved at the Saturday matinee two-days-ago Four Temperaments at New York City Ballet, when Olivia Boisson and Lars Nelson danced the First Theme.
They made their debuts in this during the prior NYCB season, thus sixty years after the Adams-Mitchell coupling in Agon.
A commemoration? Certainly the social-political vibes were there, but less self-consciously so than in some other integrated pairings, since they seemed well-matched in terms of height and presence.
Tchennichova used to say only half-facetiously that if you began and concluded your variation with strength and assurance, the audience wouldn’t focus on any weaknesses along the way.
Corps members Boisson and Nelson did seem a bit abashed to be standing alone on the big Koch theater stage to begin the ballet.
But there wasn’t any lack of security in their dancing and partnering.