Zoï Tatopoulos’ choreography gets called a lot of things, but the one label that she keeps hearing is “alien.” As seen in her choreography for FKA twigs’ 2024 music video “Eusexua,” Tatopoulos’ approach to dance—writhing, crawling, contorting, and entirely mesmerizing—is challenging the possibilities of the body in commercial choreography. Role: Independent choreographer, represented by McDonald/Selznick […]

Eleni Loving unspools movement like a magic trick. Dancing Twyla Tharp’s percussive The Fugue (1970/2024) with Gibney Company, she captures the work’s airy groundedness with precise musicality and a deadpan delivery. In Jermaine Spivey and Spenser Theberge’s Remains, she is a marionette who has cut her own strings, her gestures at once precisely calibrated and […]

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.

Quintessential to Chicago tap lore is Jumaane Taylor’s Supreme Love, a tour de force that pushes the best of the best to the limit. When Andrew Carr was in the original 2015 cast, he was only 11. Always ahead of the curve, Carr has been choreographing since he was 15 and went viral earlier this year with his video Universe 4 Two, featuring M.A.D.D. Rhythms company members. Carr’s insatiable attention to detail and instinctive musicality have pushed his seasoned, unparalleled excellence over the line.

Whether she’s in the studio—fearlessly flexible in a grand jété with her arms playfully thrown back—or onstage—fast and precise in her first lead role as The Nutcracker’s Lead Marzipan—Pacific Northwest Ballet corps dancer Destiny Wimpye glows. In Kiyon Ross’ new …throes of increasing wonder last season, she skittered across the floor, devouring the space. But more than dazzling leaps and quadruple pirouettes, it’s in her smaller movements, beautifully turned out, arms poised yet wondrously alive, that Wimpye shines onstage, exuding strength but also vulnerability.

Watching Eric Best navigate the sensuous curves of Stanton Welch’s Tapestry, during Houston Ballet’s Jubilee of Dance this December, the dancer’s flow and exactitude merged into a seamless whole. His generous port de bras caressed the space, drawing out Welch’s nuanced choreographic lines. With his crisp technique, subtle swagger, and beguiling fluidity, Best catapulted from the corps de ballet to soloist at the opening of the season, and audiences cannot get enough of him.

From Broadway stages to international arenas, Mattie Love’s dancing is electrifying. She has an uncanny ability to move through choreography fluidly but with punchy accents and a raw, earthy quality. Although having such a distinctive style of moving might have intimidated her at first, it’s become her superpower, leading her into some of the most coveted gigs, including performing as Madonna’s doppelgänger in her Celebration Tour.

There is an explosive energy to Michael de la Nuez’s dancing that will not be denied. In Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate during American Ballet Theatre’s summer season, he sliced through the air like an arrow and spun like a top, equal parts bravura showstopper and clean classical dancer.