On Thursday night at Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, the creative frisson between choreographer (Balanchine) and composer (Tchaikovsky) ignited fireworks not just once, but twice, via the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

When he crafted an abbreviated "Swan Lake" in 1951 for his then-three-year-old New York City Ballet, some critics viewed the move as an artistic setback for the avant-garde company; Balanchine saw it as a repertory-building opportunity. Audiences agreed, and the utterly absorbing ballet, which eliminates huge chunks of the story (they're not missed) and cherry picks from the score's prodigiously atmospheric second and fourth acts, proves that brevity has its virtues.

A poignant Natalia Magnicaballi as Odette and a forthright Brett Van Sickle as Prince Siegfried certainly had their moments. But it was the well-schooled corps who left the most enduring impression. In their elegant, knee-length white tutus, the nearly two dozen women moved as one, fully inhabiting, with increasing velocity, the choreography's intricate patterning and breathless sweep.

Eight months (and 183,000 visitors) into its $88.2 million renovation, Northrop is proving to be as ideal a ballet venue as any in the country. And this vivacious company, led by Balanchine muse Suzanne Farrell, should visit more often, if only to offer another peek at the sparkling "Allegro Brillante," the second piece on Thursday's program.

Balanchine's plotless confection from 1956 (the music is Tchaikovsky's single-movement Piano Concerto No. 3) conjures up a buoyant, pastel-tinted world that is all pristine geometry and breezy exuberance. An assured Michael Cook and a radiant Paola Hartley led the cast of 10.

The company presented a similar program last weekend at its home base, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. But when the troupe hit the road, Farrell left an ascetic pair of Balanchine-Stravinsky gems behind: "Movements for Piano and Orchestra" from 1963 and 1960's "Monumentum pro Gesualdo." Our loss.

Fortunately, "The Concert (Or, the Perils of Everybody)" made the journey to Minneapolis. Choreographer Jerome Robbins' entertaining 1956 romp to Chopin is a rarity, a comic ballet that's actually funny. Particularly when it's performed with as much split-second aplomb as it was on Thursday.

Here's some post-Thanksgiving gratitude for Northrop keeping its CD player silent. Instead, 44 Minnesota musicians (and the electrifying pianist Glenn Sales) contributed an immeasurable dynamic from the orchestra pit. Nathan Fifield conducted.

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