PNB audiences last year adored Jiri Kylian’s Petit Mort (1991), from its salacious title to its dead sexy movement and non-sequiteur props. And so Peter Boal added a new installment for the season-opening Director’s Choice program—Kylian’s Sechs Tänze (that’s “six dances” in German). This 1986 predecessor to Petit Mort, also set to Mozart, foreshadows its sophisticated juxtapositions alongside sections of full-out humor. Both these progressive works show PNB’s interest in pushing beyond classical storytelling or neo-classical virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake. Also on the program: a new production of Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces (1983), his coolly kinetic reaction to the music of Phillip Glass; and Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat, set to Catalonian folksongs. SANDRA KURTZ [Also see Sandra’s review.]

Fri., Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 25-Oct. 3, 2010