New York Notebook
MAD Rhythm
Trailblazing hoofer Jason Samuels Smith has performed everywhere, from Broadway stages to underground clubs. This month he’ll add museums to his list when he shares a program with postmodern choreographers Andrea Miller (April’s cover story) and David Parker. This grouping of humorous, quirky, and rhythmic is the last of the new Dancing Under the Influence series at the Museum of Arts and Design this spring. Curator Valerie Gladstone says, “Since much of the museum audience is new to dance, I want to show it the variety that exists in contemporary dance.” During a month that winds up with National Tap Dance Day (May 25), here’s a chance to see how tap dance fits in with the other arts. Museum of Arts and Design, May 18. See www.madmuseum.org. —Emily Macel Theys
Moving Home
For a month starting May 9, Susan Rethorst will move into Danspace at St. Mark’s Church—furniture and all. Her own chairs, tables, and sofa are the set for the newest in her series of 208 East Broadway dances. That’s fitting, as Rethorst’s quietly brilliant choreography alludes to the familiar and everyday without ever using actions you could name. Along with two premieres and one older work, the Susan Rethorst Retro(intro)spective includes conversations, movie screenings, and three evenings of “wrecking,” where Rethorst turns her in-progress dance over to other artists to do with it as they will. She can reverse or keep the changes when the new pieces open June 14–18. See www.danspaceproject.org. —Lisa Kraus
Triple-Header at ABT
American Ballet Theatre’s spring season at the grand Metropolitan Opera House is not known for showcasing new work. But from May 24–26, the company sprouts three premieres by three golden boys of ballet: Ratmansky, Wheeldon, and Millepied. All on the same program, shared with a revival of Tudor’s Shadowplay. Possibly just as momentous: The previous week, the startlingly lovely Polina Semionova, star of Staatsballett Berlin, flies in to dance Kitri to David Hallberg’s Basilio in Don Quixote. See www.abt.org. —Wendy Perron
Polina Semionova: heaven-sent. Photo by Dan Howell, Courtesy
Pointe
