For his first work for ABT Studio Co., Houston Thomas has created Knife's Edge, featuring original music by Johannes Goldbach. Knife's Edge, at its core, is about the expression and expansion of the classical ballet language. In the creative process, I hoped to challenge what the dancers and I knew about classical ballet and how it could be reinterpreted in new ways. The ballet explores the full extent of classical ballet technique while finding new approaches to steps we already know. Movements, positions, and rules are either followed or broken; steps are stretched and expanded. 

Simplistic and minimal, the music acts as a guidance, dictating time and movement. The piece is broken into four variations or movements, each using the same musical elements but arranged in different patterns and importance. Through the music, precision and execution are brought to the forefront creating new boundaries and exploring what one can discover.