The sheer joy of Balanchine’s “Donizetti Variations,” set to melodic, buoyant ballet music from Gaetano Donizetti’s opera “Dom Sébastien,” hooks you from the moment it begins. So does the wit of the choreography, which has the intensely satisfying quality of seeming to reveal the score in all its detail, while not taking it terribly seriously.
Much of the ballet features different permutations of the ensemble of nine dancers, usually arranged in threes. In one section, three women bob up and down on pointe in arabesque; two are up when the third is down, and vice versa. The counterpoint is funny and brings attention to the accents in the music.