4 Shows Kicking Off the New Year in Style
New year, new works—here are four programs we’re very much looking forward to this month.
Circus Meets Cunningham
LONDON What happens when a contemporary circus troupe dives into the work of Merce Cunningham? Attendees of the London International Mime Festival will have the chance to see for themselves with the premiere of Gandini Juggling’s LIFE, a work rooted in Cunningham’s choreographic oeuvre created by Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala, at Sadler’s Wells’ Lilian Baylis Studio. Jan. 12–15. sadlerswells.com.
Rojo Reimagines Raymonda
LONDON English National Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo makes her choreographic and directorial debut with a new twist on Raymonda. Taking inspiration from Florence Nightingale, Rojo shifts the action of the Petipa classic to the Crimean War, during which the titular heroine becomes embroiled in a love triangle while serving as a nurse. ENB will become the only UK-based company to have a full-length Raymonda in its repertory upon its premiere, planned for Jan. 18–23 at the London Coliseum after the pandemic halted its originally scheduled debut during the 2020–21 season. ballet.org.uk.
Winter at Whim W’Him
SEATTLE Whim W’Him is betting on premieres from two young, L.A.-based choreographers: recent USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance grad Jakevis Thomason and BODYTRAFFIC dancer Ethan Colangelo. The double bill will debut at Seattle’s Cornish Playhouse, Jan. 21–22 and 28–29, with additional performances just a ferry ride away at Vashon Center for the Arts (Jan. 26) and Whidbey Island Center for the Arts (Jan. 27). whimwhim.org.
Blank Space
SALT LAKE CITY Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company brings a trio of new and new-to-the-company works to the Regent Street Black Box Theatre with its Fill in the Blank program. In Stefanie Batten Bland’s 2018 Look Who’s Coming to Dinner, inspired by the Stanley Kramer film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, dancers seek to take their figurative seats at the set’s literal table. The unabridged iteration of Andrea Miller’s I can see myself makes its local in-person debut following the premiere of a virtual iteration last spring. A new work from company alum Jo Blake rounds out the program, planned for Jan. 27–29. ririewoodbury.com.
