NEW YORK, NY.- There is a special bond between a dancer and a piece of music. A dancer can ascend to a state beyond surface prettiness to one of true, embodied grace. If music has the ability to set a dancer free, how can a dancer instilled with innate musicality translate those sensations to other bodies, to other minds?

For her first choreographic act at New York City Ballet, Tiler Peck, a longtime principal, has chosen her music, by Francis Poulenc, wisely: It is as sparkling as her dance, “Concerto for Two Pianos,” which had its debut Thursday at the David H. Koch Theater. In a long exhalation, she sets her dancers free.

There is a resilience that lives within grace, and Peck shows this too, in a later moment of her three-act ballet. Two of her featured dancers, India Bradley and Emma Von Enck, enter from either side of the stage. Each draws a knee high toward the torso as they both pause in silhouette like pillars. Bodies — theirs and others — fill in the space, but their afterimage reverberates.

As Peck shows in the best of her dancing, you can’t just feel music; allowing it to enter the body takes inner strength and agility, muscular command and relaxation. Soon, Bradley and Von Enck, an especially riveting pair in this new ballet, take off. There isn’t a lot of standing around in “Concerto for Two Pianos.” The dancing is full-bodied, all or nothing. (Driving it, too, are pianists Hanna Kim and Stephen Gosling.)

Peck does a wonderful job of staying true to herself and true to her vision of ballet, which has more in common with City Ballet’s lineage of repertory than many recent contemporary works at the company that lose their way, that become static. She also shows the dancers as themselves — but bigger, with greater expansiveness. Set to Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, the ballet flows like a physical manifestation of musical notes. Its steps are rooted in classicism with careful attention to detail, but not full of fussy details. It moves, and it’s legible.

In “Concerto for Two Pianos,” dedicated to her father, who died late last year, Peck allows the choreography to expand and extend the music — the Poulenc is a sophisticated choice — as it shifts into a sonic landscape of disparate moods: jaunty and ebullient, dramatic and dreamy. It’s a lot to keep up with, yet Peck responds to its ever-changing worlds by creating one of her own.

With chiffon dresses and unitards by designer Zac Posen and lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker — each admirable on their own yet at times, palette-wise, have a hard time syncing up — “Concerto” features seven couples and five main dancers, 19 in all. The virtuoso Roman Mejia is ever the dashing hero, topping off pirouettes and twisting leaps with poses of flexed arms and fists. While he is muscular, he doesn’t muscle his way through his technical feats, of which there are many. Throughout the work, Mejia is its anchor of lightness and force. He leads the pack.

There are also two leading couples: the scintillating duo of Bradley and Von Enck in shades of blue, and the more enigmatic pairing of Mira Nadon, in deep ruby-red, and Chun Wai Chan in gray. There are stories — or nuggets of them — as the emotion of the music shifts. As Chan holds Nadon aloft, it feels like we’ve entered a different ballet, one told through distant memories. Their partnership has a rounded sophistication that can be rare in a contemporary pas de deux. When Mejia, Bradley and Von Enck get going, the scene is more madcap, as if jovial pirates have landed on shore. It can get cute, but, mercifully, not too cute.

The corps de ballet is another anchor as couples move in unison turns, dip their torsos forward or take steps on their heels. There are finger snaps and winding flamenco arms — just sparks of them as they light up the score — but beyond merely reacting to the music’s boldest notes, Peck explores its shadowy moments.

As the ballet morphs and deepens, it continually edges its way to a sweeping, satisfying finale that shows how much in conversation Peck is with City Ballet’s alliance of music and movement. Could her ballet, at times, use a bit more breathing room? Possibly. But it’s easier to eliminate choreography than to pull it out of thin air.

That Peck’s work is a fine companion to Alexei Ratmansky’s “Odesa” (2017), which concluded the program, says something, too. Especially as the evening started on a more predictable note with Justin Peck’s “Rotunda” (2020), set to commissioned music by Nico Muhly, that strives to show dancers — often smiling at one another — as real people. They already are. It wears you down.

“Odesa” — this season, the spelling of its title was changed from the Russian “Odessa” to the Ukrainian way — is evocative of a place where people live, love and suffer. Set to Leonid Desyatnikov’s “Sketches to Sunset,” the work is enigmatic as it shines a lens on the passion and pain of three couples. Again, there are mysterious stories at play, and glimpses into the interior lives of lovers.

Megan Fairchild is held aloft, floating and falling out of Daniel Ulbricht’s grasp until, eventually, she lands on the stage and slaps him. They leave together.

Indiana Woodward, in a marvelous debut with the poised, pristine Anthony Huxley, shows the ease of her technical finesse in turning sequences and her imaginative, lucid acting. She is an untapped treasure; it’s a relief that Ratmansky sees her worth.

When in the end Unity Phelan and Adrian Danchig-Waring appear like a couple from a music box, descending to the floor and moving through supported poses with quiet, almost silent yearning, the others stand in rows, executing pliés, tendus — the work of daily class. It brings a rare sense of peace to the lives of these citizens. More than ever this ballet, rich with emotions and eccentricities, is a living, breathing jewel.

Before this “New Combinations” program, however, City Ballet’s winter season has been on the listless side, especially after its spectacular fall season celebrating George Balanchine, the company’s founding choreographer. Even the Jerome Robbins ballets, including the sentimental, horribly costumed “In the Night” (1970), have dragged on, doing the choreographer few favors.

And why is the company still presenting the subpar works of Peter Martins, its former director? His “Barber Violin Concerto” (1988) — on a program with Christopher Wheeldon’s “Polyphonia” (2001) and Justin Peck’s valiant “The Times Are Racing” (2017) — has a classical couple and a modern couple change partners at a certain point, paving the way for a sophomoric comparison of ballet and modern dance. Of course, the barefooted modern woman is flung around frantically, even brutally. She’s modern, so she’s wild? It’s embarrassing.

The austere elegance of “Polyphonia” remains intact, and “The Times Are Racing” was further elevated by engaging casts. No one is better than Tiler Peck (no relation to Justin) as the female lead; she originated the part, which harnesses her effortless syncopation. But another cast featured a guest artist in her role: Ashton Edwards of Pacific Northwest Ballet. Both performed opposite an impassioned Taylor Stanley.

Edwards, a nonbinary dancer who performs traditionally female roles at Pacific Northwest Ballet, wore the same costume as Peck to striking effect. But Edwards’ joyful, robust and risky dancing, and shining eyes — so apparent when gazing into Stanley’s in a half-crouched moment on the floor — brought another, more emboldened energy to the ballet. This wasn’t a casting gimmick. It was moving, as well as a reminder of what the ballet stands for. Fighting for a cause. Staying true to yourself. And, as always, dancing your heart out.

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New York City Ballet

Though March 3 at the David H. Koch Theater, nycballet.com

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.