Though Balanchine’s plotless blue-and-white ballet shows you no pearl and no princess, you can feel multiple layers of that drama evoked by the poetry of his steps: pearl-fishing through plashing waters, grand royal processions, exultance in the fleeting moment.

Though Degas demonstrates ballet’s beauty here, he traces no exultance in her; and meanwhile, he allows us to feel kinesthetically just how each muscle is operating.

While other dancers are gymnasts, his glory is mixed with an element of restraint; he has composure within exultance.

And Mr. Howard’s voice rose to match the music’s crests, from a quiet, elfin murmur to a more insistent, rasp-edged tenor — and at times into a pealing falsetto that merged desperation and exultance.

Forbes felt no longer an exultance at falling in with these people.