4 Shows Warming Up Winter’s Chilliest Month
It may be winter, but there are plenty of premieres sizzling onstage, from ballet to Broadway, Miami to San Francisco. Here are four shows we have on our radar.
New Ballets in the Bay

SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco Ballet kicks off its 2022 repertory season—the last with artistic director Helgi Tomasson at the helm—with a pair of triple bills. The first is headlined by the long-awaited premiere of Mrs. Robinson, Cathy Marston’s reimagining of The Graduate, which was originally scheduled for the 2020 season. It joins Balanchine’s Symphony in C and Tomasson’s Trio beginning Feb. 1. The second program, opening Feb. 3, boasts the company premiere of William Forsythe’s Blake Works I, set to the music of James Blake and originally created for Paris Opéra Ballet in 2016, alongside Tomasson’s Caprice and Jerome Robbins’ In the Night. Feb. 1–13. sfballet.org. —Courtney Escoyne
Bill T. Off-Broadway

NEW YORK CITY Inspired by an Afro-futurist novel by George S. Schuyler, Black No More follows a young man during the Harlem Renaissance seeking out a scientist who claims to have created a solution to America’s race problem—a machine that will turn Black people white. Choreographer Bill T. Jones joins a wildly accomplished cast and crew to make moves for The New Group’s latest musical, which plans to officially open Feb. 8 at Pershing Square Signature Center for a limited initial run through Feb. 27. thenewgroup.org. —CE
Love Lifts Us Up

SAN FRANCISCO Zaccho Dance Theatre’s Love, a state of grace features a half-dozen aerial artists performing in the cavernous interior of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. Performed in one-hour cycles, the work allows audience members to move through the space below at will, and to engage with a series of rituals and meditations, designed by artist-theologians Yohana Junkar and Claudío Cavalhaes. Directed and choreographed by Joanna Haigood, the performance installation encourages attendees to contemplate and celebrate our shared humanity, and the importance love holds across various spiritual practices. Feb. 11–12, 17–18. zaccho.org. —CE
Swan of a Different Feather

MIAMI With the North American premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake, Miami City Ballet unveils artistry previously lost in time. Ratmansky dug into Stepanov notation of the 1895 Petipa–Ivanov choreography and other sources, coming up with a ballet both truer to its roots and revelatory. Dance and mime, costumes and coiffure, honor the first Mariinsky Theatre production, but this brings surprises: Odette gains a more human presence, and Odile discards the Black Swan label, nary a feather on her knee-length, multitoned tutu. After debuting it in Miami, Feb. 11–13, MCB takes the work to West Palm Beach, Feb. 19–20, and Ft. Lauderdale, Feb. 26–27. miamicityballet.org. —Guillermo Perez