http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/arts/dance/even-balanchines-arithmetic-contains-drama.html 2016-09-21 22:30:04 Even Balanchine’s Arithmetic Contains Drama The Times’s dance critic adds, multiplies and divides up this choreographer’s “Divertimento No. 15,” which returns to City Ballet’s repertory on Thursday. === Five lead women, three lead men: this odd formula — as seen in this photograph — is the nucleus of George Balanchine’s “ His “Serenade” (1934) begins with 17 women, facing front in a lattice pattern; the first man only arrives at the end of the first movement. His “Agon” (1957) begins with four men, at the back, their backs to us; eight women will soon arrive, yet the ballet will end with the men just where they began. “Mozartiana” (1981) begins with a prima ballerina amid four girl student-dancers. The formula is always different, always pregnant with suspense, so that we ask, “What’s going on here?” In this case, I’ve often wondered if the name “Divertimento No. 15” gave him the idea: 15 = 5 x 3, a kind of numerical pun. Having eight principals (5 + 3), he matches them with a corps of eight women. As you watch the changing corps patterns, Balanchine shows how neatly divisible the number eight can be — two fours, four twos: symmetries abound. But then you see those eight principals. Eight, after all, can contain an imbalance. At one point, the men and women face each other across the stage, both in diagonal lines. They bow with perfect courtesy. No problem. Still, we can’t help asking the basic question: How on earth do three men partner five women? This photograph — a single horizontal chain — shows you just one of Balanchine’s many solutions. The When it comes to the music’s Theme and Variations, Balanchine deploys his eight principals in unbroken sequence. Two men dance the theme, sometimes together, sometimes in alternation; the six variations that follow become six solos for the five Balanchine, sometimes called the Mozart of choreographers for his mastery of satisfying formal complexity and enthralling harmony, tackled several Mozart scores. But “Divertimento No. 15” was the only one that, having made, he kept reviving — the one in which he did justice to the composer he most admired. A vision of both human civilization at its most celestial and human energy at its most brilliantly refined, it’s one of the most exalted peaks of Balanchine’s idea of classical style. It demands Adagio and Allegro skills, and its most scintillating coloratura passages should seem effortless. For that reason, “Divertimento No. 15” is seldom perfectly delivered. But it’s always a barometer of how well Balanchine style is being honored, often giving glimpses of the sublime. Ideal performances have been known. This week at the David H. Koch Theater it returns to City Ballet repertory for just four performances Thursday through Sunday. Here’s hoping they offer those glimpses of the sublime.