The marriage of music and movement is a hackneyed expression. A natural starting point for understanding dance, it’s a label that should be read with caution, lest it conceal a lack of substance. The Australian Ballet’s contemporary season, Instruments of Dance, leans into this maxim, sewing a fine thread through three works that each illuminate the very different forms such a marriage can take.

Instruments of Dance

Everywhere We Go, Instruments of Dance, The Australian Ballet, 2022. Photo © Jeff Busby

The unquestionable jewel of the program is the Australian premiere of Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go. Smartly constructed and devilishly fast, the work bursts forth from the proscenium like the freshest of airs. It’s been called the “magnum opus” of the young New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer – a label that may very well be justified.

Certainly no substitute for substance, the embodiment of music seems to be the primary and total concern of Peck. His collaborator of choice is indie singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, whose cinematic score offers a rich playground of tones and textures for the 25 dancers.

A pas de deux downstage picks up the glittering woodwind trills, while...