12 Dance Shows We’re Already Talking About Ahead of the 2017–18 Season

March 16, 2020

On the cusp of a new performance season, our calendars are chock full with shows we’re dying to see. But it can be hard to know where to start with a season filled to bursting with promising premieres, tours and revivals. We’ve picked 12 shows that should definitely be on your radar.

A Striking Living Sculpture is Invading the U.S.

Like a murder of crows or a conspiracy of ravens, 20 multigenerational women dressed in black rhythmically yip, bay and caw with primal, ritualistic intensity, the front ties of their white head kerchiefs pecking up and down like beaks. Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen created Corbeaux (“Ravens”) as a one-off performance at the Marrakesh train station during the 2014 Biennale of Contemporary Art. (She may have had the invisibility of Muslim women in mind while making it.) But the controlled animalism and intentionality of the work have, in three short years, found resonance with audiences around the world. Presented in nontheatrical spaces by a combined cast of local performers and members of Ouizguen’s Compagnie O, Corbeaux rivets viewers with the power of its nonverbal, unison percussive quality. It conveys the urgency of female experience en masse, while tapping into the ferocity that drives all attempts at greater individual agency. Time-Based Art Festival, Portland, Sept. 9–10. Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Sept. 16–17. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Sept. 23–24. French Institute Alliance Française, New York City, Oct. 1. bouchraouizguen.com. —Camille LeFevre

Two Iconic Pina Bausch Works Are Headed to BAM, and We Cannot Contain Our Excitement

Reprising the company’s historic New York City debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1984, Tanztheater Wuppertal returns to the Howard Gilman Opera House as part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival with two of Pina Bausch‘s most iconic works: Café Müller and The Rite of Spring. Café Müller, Bausch’s autobiographical masterwork, takes us inside an abandoned café where a sleepwalking woman (originally danced by Bausch herself) staggers about as a series of characters play out a troubled, turbulent and occasionally whimsical narrative, all set to Henry Purcell‘s poignant arias. Bausch’s Rite explodes with raw, sensual power as 32 dancers fiercely inhabit a dirt-covered stage, matching the blazing intensity of Stravinsky‘s revolutionary score. Sept. 14–17, 19–20, 22–24. bam.org. —Nancy Wozny

Ananya Dance Theatre in Ananya Chatterjea’s Horidraa: Golden Healing. Photo by V. Paul Virtucio, Courtesy Ananya Dance Theatre.

Ananya Dance Theatre Adds Its Voice to #theresistance


To create Shyamali: Sprouting Words, Ananya Dance Theatre worked with women in diverse communities throughout the world to elicit their stories of resistance and resilience. The dancers also participated in social justice protests, forged school partnerships focusing on girls of color and led workshops with women refugees and immigrants. The resulting production grips viewers with an articulate, harrowing and ultimately uplifting choreographic conversation about the multidimensional ways in which women’s dissent ultimately contributes to the world’s life force. Following the St. Paul, Minnesota, premiere Sept. 15–16, the work travels to Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh; University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Kahului, Hawaii; Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles; and Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia. ananyadancetheatre.org. —Camille LeFevre

Matthew Bourne Brought the Most Iconic Ballet Movie Ever Made to Life, and It’s Touring to the U.S.

In the iconic dance movie The Red Shoes, Victoria Page wavers between the man she adores and her consuming passion for ballet, a conflict encapsulated by a pair of red satin pointe shoes that propel her to her fate. British choreographer/director Matthew Bourne has reimagined the lush 1948 film and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale as pure, rapturous dance. The four-city U.S. tour opens in Los Angeles, Sept. 15–Oct. 1, with stops in Washington, DC, Oct. 10–15, and Charlotte, Oct. 17–22, before closing Oct. 26–Nov. 5 in New York City, where New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns guests in the lead role, alternating with New Adventures’ Ashley Shaw. American Ballet Theatre’s Marcelo Gomes joins the cast as a guest star for the tour. new-adventures.net. —Lisa Traiger

Bill T. Jones during a workshop for We Shall Not Be Moved. Photo by Dave DiRentis, Courtesy Opera Philadelphia.

Bill T. Jones is Directing a New Opera

Five teenage runaways take refuge in an abandoned house, where they encounter ghosts of an earlier resistance movement: That’s the premise for We Shall Not Be Moved, a multidisciplinary work recalling a time when the city of Philadelphia faced off with black activist group MOVE—with deadly consequences. The piece puts Bill T. Jones at the helm as director, dramaturge and choreographer, alongside spoken-word artist Mark Bamuthi Joseph, violin-wielding composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, and assistant choreographer Raphael Xavier. Weaving a narrative for the four dancers and six singers, the collaborators fuse varied music traditions (including classical, R&B and jazz singing) with spoken word, video projections and a dance vocabulary that ranges from baroque forms to hip hop. The goal, Jones says in an online preview, is to “create a new language bridging the world of urban word and opera.” Opera Philadelphia, Sept. 16–18, 21, 23–24. Apollo Theater, New York City, Oct. 6–8. Hackney Empire, London, Oct. 13–15, 18, 20–21. operaphila.org. —Rachel F. Elson

Carlos Acosta’s New Company is Coming, and We’re Crazy Curious About It

Acosta Danza
has been a source of curiosity ever since Carlos Acosta founded the company in 2016, but other than tantalizing glimpses on the international scene this summer, the company has performed primarily in its native Cuba. British and American audiences will finally get the chance to see what all the hubbub is about this season when the company makes its official U.K. and U.S. debuts in London and New York City. Fingers crossed that Acosta, expected to perform during the U.K. tour, also finds his way onstage stateside. Sadler’s Wells, London, Sept. 27–30. sadlerswells.com. New York City Center, April 25–27, 2018. nycitycenter.org. —Courtney Escoyne

Germaine Acogny. Photo by François Stemmer, Courtesy Brooklyn Academy of Music.

An Alternate Rite of Spring, Featuring Contemporary African Dance

Also presented by the Next Wave Festival, choreographer Olivier Dubois of Ballet du Nord offers a striking contrast to Pina Bausch’s large-scale Rite of Spring just a few weeks later. The second installment of Dubois’ Sacre series, Mon élue noire is a solo for the 73-year-old mother of contemporary African dance Germaine Acogny of Senegal. Her movement restricted atop a small, elevated platform, the regal Acogny is neither pure virgin nor sacrificial lamb; perhaps she is the caged soul of African history? This fall marks the U.S. premiere of the explosive 2015 solo. BAM Fisher, Oct. 4–7. bam.org. —Jen Peters

The Royal Ballet’s Ryoichi Hirano and Edward Watson in MacMillan’s Gloria. Photo by Johan Persson, Courtesy ROH.

A MacMillan Feast for Ballet-Obsessed Anglophiles

Sir Kenneth MacMillan
is revered in the U.K. as one of the founding fathers of British ballet, and for the first time ever, six of the country’s companies will join forces this fall to celebrate him. For the 25th anniversary of his death, the Royal Opera House is set to present eight short works by the master, as well as Wayne Eagling‘s MacMillan-inspired Jeux. The Royal Ballet will dance Jeux and The Judas Tree, while Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Yorke Dance Project join in with their own MacMillan productions. Rarities include Le Baiser de la Fée and Sea of Troubles, a 1988 work inspired by Hamlet, as well as a production of Elite Syncopations danced by members of several companies. There is much more to MacMillan than three-act blockbusters like Manon: This two-week season is a unique opportunity to delve into his varied repertoire, stretching over four decades. Royal Opera House, London, Oct. 18–Nov. 1. roh.org.uk. —Laura Cappelle

Gallim Dance at the Temple of Dendur. Photo by Ani Collier, Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art.

NYC’s Met Museum: Come for the Art, Stay for the Dancing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
has found a sweet spot where dancing meets treasures of the past. When Andrea Miller showed a work in progress inspired by the Egyptian Temple of Dendur last year, the synergy between her visceral, rough-hewn choreography and the stone surfaces of the ancient temple was mesmerizing. The MetLiveArts series has now named Miller artist in residence for the 2017–18 season—the first choreographer to hold this position. Her first goal: to finish the piece started last year, now titled Stone Skipping, to be danced by her company Gallim Dance Oct. 28–29 at the Temple of Dendur. Other dance artists at the Met Museum this season include Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula, who performs in the Met’s 16th-century Spanish courtyard Sept. 9–10, the Japanese-American maestra Eiko Otake , who brings her haunting series A Body in Places to three Met locations in November, and Monica Bill Barnes, whose Museum Workout returns for four weekends this fall. metmuseum.org. —Wendy Perron

Charlotte Ballet’s Most Incredible Thing. (No, Really, That’s the Title)

Perhaps the most incredible thing about Charlotte Ballet performing The Most Incredible Thing is that it hasn’t yet been seen in the United States. The award-winning multimedia spectacle created by English synth-pop giants Pet Shop Boys features choreography by Javier de Frutos. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a king who holds a competition to determine who can do “the most incredible thing,” the story ballet is not only a unique family-friendly theatrical experience, but also a lightning bolt illuminating where new artistic director Hope Muir is taking Charlotte Ballet. March 9–18, 2018. charlotteballet.org. —Steve Sucato

Lil Buck and Jon Boogz. Photo by George Evan, Courtesy Helene Davis Public Relations.

Another Lil Buck/Jon Boogz Team-Up? We’re Sold.

When Jon Boogz‘s film Color of Reality went viral last year, it was only partly because of jooker Lil Buck‘s terrific dancing. It was also an ingenious way to illuminate the harrowing regularity of black youth falling victim to police brutality. The video, a collaboration with the visual artist Alexa Meade, was such a brilliant melding of art consciousness and social consciousness that it made us eager to see what else they would come up with. Love Heals All Wounds, under the banner of MAI (Movement Art Is), is coming to NYU’s Skirball Center in New York City April 13–14, 2018. It’s one of many intriguing shows planned by Skirball’s new director Jay Wegman that demonstrates a bold new direction for its programming. nyuskirball.org. —Wendy Perron

Janie Taylor in Robbins’
Dybbuk
. Photo by Paul Kolnik, Courtesy NYCB.

NYCB is Dusting Off a Much-Debated Robbins/Bernstein Classic

It was the last collaboration between two geniuses of the theater—Leonard Berstein and Jerome Robbins—and it was called Dybbuk, after S. Ansky’s classic play of 1920, a Jewish ghost story about love, death and possession. The ballet was premiered on May 16, 1974, and although American dance writers didn’t get it, British critics Richard Buckle and Clive Barnes thought it blazed with brilliance. Not trusting his creation, Robbins edited the hell out of it and Dybbuk disappeared. But in 2005 Helgi Tomasson and the San Francisco Ballet brought it back, and in 2007 it was again performed by the New York City Ballet. Stark, soaring, haunting, ecstatic, magnificent, Dybbuk returns to NYCB’s repertoire in spring 2018 (May 4, 5, 8 and 20), part of the “Robbins 100” centennial celebration (May 3–20). See for yourself if those Brits weren’t right. nycballet.com. —Laura Jacobs