New York City Ballet at David H. Koch Theater New York City Ballet The company in Balanchine's "Vienna Waltzes," the finale of Wednesday's program at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. George Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco" had its premiere in 1941, 21 years before the first curtain rose on Paul Taylor's "Aureole." But the two works always seem like companions. In each you can see the choreographer stepping toward a gloriously clean, expansively American worldview. This comparison came to mind again on Wednesday night at the David H. Koch Theater, where New York City Ballet opened its program with a sublime performance of "Concerto Barocco," and where the Paul Taylor Dance Company is to begin its spring season next month, starting - hurrah - with "Aureole." The Taylor piece announces a turning away from Martha Graham's fussy, narrative-encumbered understanding of modern dance, just as this early Balanchine classic embodies his oft-repeated line, "There are no mothers-in-law in ballet." Artistic mandates soon enough curdle into cliché, and that particular one of Balanchine's is so commonly invoked that it begs to be skewered. But a bit later in the evening, when City Ballet performed Lynne Taylor-Corbett's "Seven Deadly Sins," a ballet that has every character in it except a mother-in-law, it was at moments hard to resist standing up and shouting the phrase - either that or Oscar Wilde's devastating zinger, "There is no sin except stupidity." "Inanity" would perhaps be a better word. This "Sins" doesn't have a thought (choreographic or theatrical) in its head, something of an accomplishment, considering that it's based on the caustic combination of Kurt Weill's music and Bertolt Brecht's words. Their story follows Anna 1 and Anna 2, as they leave their humble Louisiana home in search of fame and fortune. They find both, along with ruin: Anna 2 succumbs to those sins as her older, sinister sister, Anna 1, tells us all about them. As at last May's premiere, Wendy Whelan was the dancing Anna 2, and Patti LuPone returned as a guest artist to sing. Her odd, straining enunciation returned with her. Ms. Whelan must be held blameless here, along with the rest of her colleagues. They do their best, and it's considerable; it's not said often enough what an impossible gantlet of pieces this singular company performs, and how marvelously hard and well the dancers work, no matter the task. But the material is hopelessly beneath them. It's Broadway-meets-ballet lite, with the sins passing by so dully that at times you only know you've graduated to the next because Judanna Lynn's costumes and Beowulf Boritt's set are color-coded: pink for gluttony! Green for envy! When will the ballet industry tire of "Romper Room" design schemes? Weill and Brecht demand - and deserve - a particular world of movement invention, something severe and strange, with an unmistakable point of view. And there are so many contemporary choreographers, like Pam Tanowitz, Sarah Michelson or Anna Sperber, who could deliver, if only the ballet world would reach out. Ms. Taylor-Corbett instead supplies instantly forgettable sequences of lifts and long, chorus line-esque patterns, with poor Ms. Whelan stumbling and tumbling through it like a windblown sparrow. What a relief it was to turn to Balanchine's "Vienna Waltzes" (1977). Though who on earth comes up with these rhythmless programs? Wednesday night also included the Balanchine bonbon "Tarantella," terrifically danced by the stylish Tiler Peck and the gravity-defying Daniel Ulbricht. To arrange a City Ballet season is, no doubt, a migraine-inducing task. But there must be a better way. However. Those in the audience who returned after "Sins" (attrition was noticeable) could sink into "Vienna Waltzes." A spectacle both romantic and smart, it unfolds in a grand series of Technicolor ballroom dreams. There are so many delicious details to savor, like the sheer backdrops by Rouben Ter-Arutunian that rise, their images of trees yielding to root systems in a visual reinforcement of Balanchine's tracing of dance forms. There is nary a mother-in-law to be seen. City Ballet performs through Feb. 26 at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center; (212) 496-0600, nycballet.com.