(l-r) Company dancers Jerome Tisserand, Ryan Cardea, and William Lin-Yee in Mark Morris’s Kammermusik No. 3. Photo © Angela Sterling.

A four-pack of world premieres underscores the commitment to dance innovation and encouragement of emerging choreographers that has been central to PNB’s mission from its inception. Headliner Mark Morris—internationally acclaimed as his generation’s most musical choreographer—debuts his first commissioned ballet for PNB, set to cello concerto Kammermusik No. 3, Op. 36, No. 2 by Paul Hindemith. Artistic Director Peter Boal developed PNB’s NEXT STEP choreographers’ showcase to cultivate the Company’s current crop of young dance-makers. NEXT STEP veteran and Company soloist Kiyon Gaines debuts his second ballet for the mainstage, Sum Stravinsky, an homage to inspirations George Balanchine and Kent Stowell. Another pair of NEXT STEP participants, corps de ballet dancers Margaret Mullin and Andrew Bartee, make professional leaps forward with their first works for PNB’s repertory, Lost in Light and arms that work.