Her career soaring at Miami City Ballet, Taylor Naturkas has ridden on the wings of fabled creatures for her latest successes. After Naturkas performed the titular role in the Balanchine/Robbins Firebird last February, artistic director Lourdes Lopez promoted her to principal soloist. Two months later, Naturkas debuted as Odette/Odile in Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake. This fall she’s ready for a deeper dive into Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, after her spring guest appearance in this work with New York City Ballet.

From major tours to noteworthy premieres to Hollywood-inspired musicals (and one movie musical), here are 28 shows on our contributors’ must-see lists.

“I have a sweet tooth, for sure,” says Dawn Atkins. The recently promoted Miami City Ballet principal searched for a snack to bring to work each day, but struggled to find something that gave her the sugar fix she was craving—and was healthy.

“It feels strange sometimes,” the Ukrainian dancer Stanislav Olshanskyi, who recently joined Miami City Ballet, says of his new life in Miami. “The weather is always nice, there are iguanas and birds, and I can see water from my apartment.” He pauses for a moment, reflecting on his new life. “And yet it’s the same world where there is a war going on in Ukraine, where bad things happen and people are dying.”

In 2008, Adrienne Carter headed to a summer intensive at Miami City Ballet, determined to become a professional dancer. “I applied to be considered for the year-round school and got accepted,” she recalls.

Miami City Ballet principal Steven Loch had been dealing with anxiety and intrusive thoughts since his teens. But when he was a corps member at Pacific Northwest Ballet, they became intense enough to make it difficult for him to manage his daily schedule of company class, rehearsals and performances. These feelings were a result of obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chronic mental health condition that, when left untreated, can become extremely debilitating.

What will the dance world of tomorrow be like? An answer—or several—might be illuminated by our annual list of dancers, choreographers and companies on the brink of skyrocketing. 

It may be winter, but there are plenty of premieres sizzling in the wings. Here are four shows we have on our radar this month.