New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, America’s top two ballet troupes, have been “playing rival spring seasons at Lincoln Center for more than two decades. Time was, the most profound and thrilling art lay with NYCB. Little by little, without Balanchine’s galvanizing presence as chief choreographer and—this should not be underestimated—chief coach, the power of attraction has shifted to ABT, with its warmer performing style, its growing complement of male virtuosi, its recent cultivation of tall, fresh, and athletic ‘American Girl’ ballerinas (Gillian Murphy, Michele Wiles), and the occasional dazzling guest star.”