The term “fringe festival” might evoke thoughts of Edinburgh, the Scottish home to perhaps the most well-known festival by that name, responsible for shows like Fleabag, Six, and even Sir Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The immediate association with this city is accurate given that it was in Edinburgh in 1947 where groups of performers arrived to appear at the Edinburgh International Festival, but, uninvited, put their shows on simultaneously on what would later be termed “the fringes” of the official festival.

New York City Ballet’s over-reliance on Justin Peck to produce highlights the tensions between twenty-first-century demands of a ballet company and ghosts of choreographers past.