Maria Kowroski took to Balanchine’s “Bugaku” so well in her debut Wednesday night that, at first, I wondered why she hadn’t been cast in the ballet earlier in her career. But, on second thought, I realized that her debut proclaimed the wisdom in waiting, for earlier in her career Ms. Kowroski, who joined NYCB in 1995, might not have been able to bring to the role the wealth of shadings she did this evening. She used her pliant and long-reaching limbs to register a formalized design, and “Bugaku” is nothing if not formalized.

“Bugaku” depicts a wedding night in an Asian court, replete with male and female attendants, dressings and disrobings, the cordial and ceremonial meeting of bride and bridegroom as well as the intimacy of the wedding-night bedroom. Balanchine commissioned the score from Toshiro Mayuzumi following the 1959 New York visit of the Japanese court Gagaku troupe of musicians and dancers: “Bugaku” refers to music written for dance. Mayuzumi’s music expands the restricted orchestration of authentic Bugaku scores to the dimensions of Western instrumentation, referencing both Western and Eastern systems of dissonance. The music, as well as the ballet, is thus fundamentally ersatz as well as truly adapted to the resources of a Western ballet company.

Balanchine remains faithful to Asian theater’s refusal to lure its audience into suspension of disbelief. The ballet is performed on a pavilionlike interior stage designed by David Hays. The performers enact highly ritualized systems of movement that recall how ballet and Asian dance companies often enact familiar tales before audiences eager both to recognize artifice and to surrender to the narrative and emotional content.

From the moment she appeared, Ms. Kowroski’s evoked a world different than any other ballet in her repertory. The Asian theatrical stance plants the ballerina way back on her heels, especially in comparison to traditional ballet alignment, and Ms. Kowroski’s walk was delicate without being too mincing. In her many bows — to her attendants, to her bridegroom — Ms. Kowroski manifested a variety of intentions, from gracious greeting to purely formalized acquiescence, behind which lurked a protective and impenetrable façade.

In “Bugaku,” Balanchine synthesizes Asian dance and his own knotty neoclassical complexities. Ms. Kowroski’s legs demonstrated not only suppleness but also intelligence — awareness that the way in which her leg retracts is just as important as the way it unfolds. In earlier years, Ms. Kowroski’s sometimes insecure center has diffused her movement; she hasn’t completely corrected this problem, but she has gone a long way toward doing so. On Wednesday night, her center was clear and strong, whether she performed upright or deliberately off-balance. There were a few wobbly moments in her slow solo passages, but she will undoubtedly stabilize these in future performances.

Ms. Kowroski’s approach to the role is completely different from that of Darci Kistler, who has danced “Bugaku” so radiantly in recent years. Whereas Ms. Kistler has suggested a blushing bride, Ms. Kowroski might be a courtesan or a court favorite married off to a nobleman for the protection his title offers. She certainly comes to the marriage compact with a degree of experience and sophistication, and at times dominates her bridegroom, Albert Evans.

On Wednesday night there was some disparity in their approach to the ballet. Mr. Evans sometimes finds the work amusing, while Ms. Kowroski is dead serious. I prefer her approach. In their love duet, however, Ms. Kowroski and Mr. Evans are evenly matched combatants; they emerge from their wedding night having forged a mutual understanding and accommodation.

“Bugaku” was performed as the centerpiece of the NYCB program entitled “International Balanchine.” It opened with “Serenade,” and closed with “Union Jack,” Balanchine’s salute-to-Britain extravaganza, which was stirringly performed by virtually the entire company.