The three works in this all-Balanchine program come from the first three decades of the choreographer’s career. Prodigal Son was created in 1929 for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, when Balanchine was but 25. Its rich narrative invention announces a fully formed choreographic voice, and its story parallels Balanchine’s own escape from an ever more authoritarian Russia. Serenade is Balanchine’s first original ballet in America, one that contains so many of his New World themes. It was first shown on student dancers in 1934, on an outdoor stage in White Plains, New York. Balanchine tinkered, and its official premiere came in 1935. And Symphony in C—this 1947 ballet was made for the Paris Opera Ballet during Balanchine’s wandering years. Crystalline, kaleidoscopic, it pays homage to French classicism—where the art of ballet began. One year later, in 1948, Balanchine’s New York City Ballet was formed. —Laura Jacobs