Stephen Petronio is drawn deliciously to outrageous contrariety. This used to mean pairing structural rigor with a punk flamboyance whereby the bald and barefoot donned corsets etched in flower buds and slashed their pliant torsos with whiplash limbs. Four decades on, the signature movement style abides, but the choreographer has chosen to loosen his authorial grip. Petronio passed the pandemic’s early, isolated months alone in the studio working out his personal history in improvised steps. When it was safe for his six highly virtuosic regulars to join him, he offered these phrases to invite their own deep movement dives—raw material for a Beast that breathes vulnerability and plays with chance. To add to the spirit of adventure, the intrepid classical-contemporary crossover artist Jennifer Koh will be in the house, improvising on her violin. —Apollinaire Scherr