Four years of pandemic impact have wreaked havoc on the lives of professional dancers like Jaramillo, a member of Sydnie L. Mosley’s New York City–based collective SLMDances. Most dance organizations, whether commercial or nonprofit, have been on a financial roller-coaster ride, too, whose tracks parallel ups and downs in the U.S. economy as a whole. Multiple reports published since last summer have shed long-awaited light on the fiscal health of the country’s dance sector. What those numbers say isn’t simple to summarize.

Electric performances, thought-provoking choreography, buzzy bodies of work—the artists on our annual list of dancers, choreographers, directors, and companies poised for a breakout share an uncanny knack for arresting attention. They’ve been turning heads while turning what’s expected—in a performance, from a career trajectory—on its head. We’re betting we’ll be seeing a lot more of them this year, and for many years to come.

The summer performance season is already kicking into high gear with works that take a look back, a pop musical’s long-awaited Broadway opening, an intriguing collision of big-name collaborators, and more.

As I have asked myself and my collaborators the question “How are we gonna dance again?,” we at my collective, SLMDances, have taken the ongoing public health crisis as a call to action to fundamentally reconsider our behaviors for the care of ourselves and all those we come into contact with.