“Ice people! Ice people!” exclaimed a nine-year-old girl, with admirable taxonomic confidence, as an illuminated retinue of 7 towering abstract figures made their appearance near the steps of Lincoln Center, meandering among a crowd of about 20,000 spectators at the Annual Winter’s Eve Festival.

Adding an aura of hibernal mystery (perhaps a touch of menace) to the seasonal festivities, the Cubist-inspired figures were originally created in workshops with members of the Architectural League of NY for their annual Beaux Arts Ball. Now, after a brief hiatus, restored and re-fashioned, they have returned as an ambient performance piece each year, as 21 intrepid puppeteers guide the Giants through the plazas and parks around NYC's famed Lincoln Center, occasionally breaking their glacial cadences to improvise flashes of whimsy or reach down to graze the hand of a bewildered passerby.