NYC Dance Season in Full Swing
Dance lovers and theatergoers agree. There’s no better place to view the art of dance than New York City. With its resident companies and venues of all sizes to host performances, there are unlimited opportunities to enjoy the best of the best in dance. We have rounded up some of the upcoming shows happening this spring. Enjoy!
-Flamenco Festival at New York City Center
March 8 begins the Festival Performances
For over 20 years, the Flamenco Festival has brought Spain’s greatest flamenco talents to City Center. See all three events and feel that legacy and artistry in an explosive two-week extravaganza of music and dance.
Website: New York City Center
-Ballet Hispánico at New York City Center
April 25 to April 28
Ballet Hispánico is the largest Latinx/e/Hispanic cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures.
Website: New York City Center
-Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center
April 17 to April 20
The company will present “American Legacies” to include sensational Graham masterworks, new production of Agnes de Mille‘s Rodeo, and a new work by Jamar Roberts with music by Rhiannon Giddens.
Website: Martha Graham
-Baye & Asa at Baryshnikov Arts
March 28 to March 30
4 | 2 | 3 focuses on the generational impacts of climate change using the “Riddle of the Sphinx” as an allegorical structure. The piece is divided into three sections, for three generations of performers, examining the intergenerational cooperation necessary to acknowledge this moment of existential crisis.
Website: Baryshnikov Arts
-Merce/Misha/More at Baryshnikov Arts
March 7 to March 9
A program of films celebrating decades of friendship, mutual admiration, and the working relationship between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham.
Website: Baryshnikov Arts
–New York City Ballet at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
April 23, 24, 25, 30 and May 5
The program will be “All Balanchine” with Bourree Fantasque, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Errante (formerly titled Tzigane) and Symphony in C.
Website: New York City Ballet
-Mark Morris Dance Group and “The Look of Love” at BAM
The dancers will perform with an ensemble of piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, with singer, actress, and Broadway star Marcy Harriell on lead vocals. Mark Morris’ critically acclaimed work, set to the chart-topping songs of Burt Bacharach, will make its New York City debut.
Website: Mark Morris Dance Group
-Dongpo: Life in Poems at The David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
March 15 to May 17
China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG), in collaboration with American Dance Festival will present the American premiere of the acclaimed poetic modern dance production.
Website: David Koch Theater
–Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at The Joyce Theater
March 12 to March 24
The company brings highlights from its 46th anniversary season to its two-week run at The Joyce.
Website: Joyce Theater
-Trisha Brown Dance Company at The Joyce Theater
March 26 to March 31
Elevating abstract dance to theatrical proportions, Brown’s timeless works solidify her place as one of the most influential choreographers of her time.
Website: Joyce Theater
–Max Roach 100
April 2 to April 7
Curtain Chat: Wednesday, April 3
Family Matinee: Saturday, April 6 at 2pm
Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)
The Joyce Theater joins the nationwide celebration of the iconic drummer, composer, and activist Max Roach with an evening of commissioned works made in tribute to this legendary Jazz pioneer’s greatest works. Curated by Richard Colton, this special program brings Joyce artists together in conversation with Roach’s lasting legacy. Characterized by its Afro-Cuban percussion, the 1961 album Percussion Bitter Sweet becomes the soundscape for choreographer Ronald K. Brown’s latest work for dancers from Havana-based Malpaso Dance Company and Brown’s own EVIDENCE, A Dance Company. In The Dream/It’s Time, Roach’s band joins a recording of Martin Luther King Jr. in an aspirational and urgent conversation, now amplified by the streetdance storytelling of Rennie Harris Puremovement. Tap artist Ayodele Casel performs an explosively theatrical solo set to a series of duets between Roach and fellow Jazz pioneer, pianist Cecil Taylor.
Website: The Joyce Theater
–Dance Theatre of Harlem
April 11 to April 14
With a forward-thinking repertoire that showcases the immense power and talent of its dancers, Dance Theatre of Harlem is poised to shine in a collection of classic and innovative contemporary works across three performances. Robert Garland’s impact on the company as its former Resident Choreographer continues to ripple throughout its programming this season, featuring his Nyman String Quartet No. 2, New Bach, and the return of Return, set to a soundtrack of James Brown and Aretha Franklin hits. Tapping into its classical training, DTH will also present the company premiere of George Balanchine’s Pas de Dix at each of the three City Center performances. Back by popular demand, William Forsythe’s Blake Works IV (The Barre Project) quickly returns to the DTH repertoire following its New York premiere in the company’s 2023 homecoming season. Rounding out the program this year is another New York premiere, Take Me With You, from Polish dancer and choreographer Robert Bondara set to music by Radiohead. Each evening of performances solidifies Dance Theatre of Harlem’s place in dance history as a trailblazing organization that continually delivers excellence at home in New York and around the world.
Website: New York City Center
-Sydney Dance Company
ab [intra]
April 16 to April 21
Curtain Chat: Wednesday, April 17
Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)
Hailed as “contemporary dance at its most evocative and beautiful” (TimeOut), Sydney Dance Company returns with Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela’s critically acclaimed ab [intra]. Meaning ‘from within’ in Latin, ab [intra] is an exploration of our primal instincts and impulses. With a driving score composed by Australian musician Nick Wales, lush cello fuses with ambient electronica as the exquisite dancers occupy a visually arresting, ethereal word that reflects our shared complexity of being.
Website: The Joyce Theater
-Ailey II at The Joyce Theater
April 9 to April 14
Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, Ailey II embodies Alvin Ailey’s pioneering mission to establish an extended cultural community providing dance performances, training and programming for all.
Website: Joyce Theater
-Duke Ellington’s 125th Birthday in the City of Jazz at Symphony Space
May 6
The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts in association with the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) will be co-hosted by Duke Ellington’s granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington and the ATDF Founding Director, Tony Waag.
Website: Symphony Space
-Oona Doherty
Navy Blue
June 4 to June 9
Curtain Chat: Wednesday, June 5
Tickets: $12-$62 (including fees)
A rising star in the field of contemporary choreography, Belfast-raised choreographer Oona Doherty makes her Joyce debut with Navy Blue, a thrilling amalgamation of ensemble movement, spoken word poetry, and political candor. Set to an eclectic soundtrack of compositions by Sergeï Rachmaninoff and electronic music composer Jamie xx, the work traces a line from the past to the present while urgently appealing for societal change. “This is a bow to dance, this is a questioning of what to do next,” says Doherty. Navy Blue confronts an existential crisis with a demand for redemption, freedom, and a new future for all.
Website: The Joyce Theater
Top photo: Bigstock
