New York City Ballet Dancers Hit the Runway

Given the dance and fashion worlds’ mutual infatuation, and the fact that we’re currently in the midst of New York Fashion Week, it was only a matter of time before news broke about yet another awesome dance–fashion intersection.

On Sunday, Opening Ceremony invited seven of the Big Apple’s brightest dance stars—ballerinas from New York City Ballet—to walk its catwalk. They were sort of undercover…

The NYCB beauties walking for Opening Ceremony: (L to R) Brittany Pollack, Likolani Brown, Lauren Lovette, Megan Mann, Megan LeCrone, Ashley Laracey and Teresa Reichlen (Photos: Greg Kessler, via Vogue)

…until the dancers-slash-models started falling:

A video posted by Nikki Ogunnaike (@nikkiogun)
on

Sep 13, 2015 at 6:18pm PDT

  Of course, as the above clip of NYCB principal Lauren Lovette proves, the models weren’t really that clumsy. NYCB resident choreographer Justin Peck was behind their graceful spills; he created a runway ballet of sorts to show off the designers’ billowy, understated looks:

  Dance + Fashion collide. So fun collaborating with @humbertotoo and @openingceremony for their Spring 2016 #NYFW collection   A video posted by Justin Peck (@justin_peck) on

Sep 13, 2015 at 7:27pm PDT

Another clip:

What might have seemed like a series of “epic falls” on the runway just now was actually a dance orchestrated by world-renowned choreographer @Justin_Peck. Thank you so much to all of the talented @nycballet dancers who acted as models at our show #NYFW

A video posted by openingceremony (@openingceremony) on

Sep 13, 2015 at 6:36pm PDT

In a piece for T Magazine, Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony said he wanted the audience to be completely surprised by the falling: “…you won’t know that they’re meant to fall. And the audience, in my mind, will participate. They might gasp or lend a hand.” According to T, that’s pretty much what happened: “When the first model fell, audience members screamed and tried to reach down to help.”

What spurred this collaboration? For one, Opening Ceremony (founded by Leon and Carol Lim) is known for shaking up the traditional runway experience with things like photography showings and theatrical productions. But Leon and Lim have also been working with Peck on another endeavor: They’re designing the costumes for Peck’s newest ballet, to be unveiled at NYCB’s fall gala on September 30.

Check out some fabulous rehearsal photos from T Magazine here, and get more info on NYCB’s fall gala here.