The performers of Dance China NY, which presented the "Autumn Moon" in the afternoon at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College, looked much more worldly-wise than the choreography, ably meeting its demands for expertise in Chinese traditional and Western modern dance and acrobatics. The company director, Jiang Qi's new "Reverie of Baoyou", a clearly told story of love and treachery drawn from "The Dream of the Red Chamber," featured vivid performances by Hangdong Xu as the hero, Lei Zhou and Bei Zheng as the women who love him and, most of all, Jiangzi Zhao as his best friend.

A suite of shorter pieces tried to capture the sense of seasons and their changes. Four dancers were ripening fruit and falling leaves in Dai Jian's new "Autumn's Passing, Winter's Arrival," followed by a slow-traveling moon (Tian Shuai) in Mr Qi's new "Moonlight," and ending with a charming evocation of the life cycle in Mr Qi's "Some Seasons." The program also included traditional dances by Zhiqiang Wang.