What Happens When a Group of Artists Is Put In Charge of a Presenting Organization?

When Performance Space New York artistic and executive director Jenny Schlenzka asked choreographer Sarah Michelson how they should commemorate the venue’s 40th anniversary, Michelson joked that Schlenzka should just turn over the keys to a group of artists for the year. Schlenzka took her seriously. Throughout 2020, control of Performance Space New York (previously known […]

Kick Off the New Decade With These Editor-Approved Performance Picks

The ’20s might just be beginning, but the dance world hasn’t lost any momentum. Here are five performances for a roaring start to the decade. The Air We Breathe Mariana Valencia in her Yugoslavia Ian Douglas, Courtesy Blake Zidell & Associates NEW YORK CITY In her new evening-length, Mariana Valencia pays homage to the Mexican […]

Why Would Anyone Become a Dancer?

The Brooklyn-based choreographer Gillian Walsh is both obsessed with and deeply conflicted about dance. With her latest work, Fame Notions, May 17–19 at Performance Space New York, she seeks to understand what she calls the “fundamentally pessimistic or alienating pursuit” of being a dancer. Noting that the piece is “quiet and introverted,” like much of […]

Best of 2018: DM Contributors Share Their Favorite Dance Moments of the Year

Dance Magazine editors and writers chose their favorite dance happenings of the year. Here are the moves, moments and makers that grabbed us: Most Heartbreaking History Lesson: THEM Ishmael Houston-Jones (left) and dancers in THEM. Photo by Rachel Papo, courtesy Blake Zidell & Associates Originally performed in 1986 at the height of the AIDS epidemic, THEM […]

THEM Conjures the AIDS Epidemic and All Its Subterranean Fear

If you want to know how scary the AIDS epidemic was in the 1980s, come see Ishmael Houston-Jones’ piece THEM from 1986. This piece reveals the subterranean fears that crept into gay relationships at the time. Houston-Jones is one of downtown’s great improvisers, and his six dancers also improvise in response to his suggestions. With […]

How This Dancer Became One of NYC's Most In-Demand Freelancers

Some dancers move to New York City with their sights set on a dream job: that one choreographer or company they have to dance for. But when Maggie Cloud graduated from Florida State University in 2010, she envisioned herself on a less straightforward path. “I always had in mind that I would be dancing for […]