NDT in NYC

NEW YORK CITY   Nederlands Dans Theater returns to New York City Center for the first time since Emily Molnar took the helm. William Forsythe’s N.N.N.N. is joined by a pair of U.S. premieres: Imre and Marne van Opstal’s The Point Being and Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar’s Jakie. April 3–6. nycitycenter.org. —Courtney Escoyne

Centering Latina Voices

SAN FRANCISCO  The Carmen premiering at San Francisco Ballet this month won’t look or sound the same as usual. Choreographer Arielle Smith (a 2022 “25 to Watch” pick) sets the tale in contemporary Cuba—specifically at the family restaurant to which the titular heroine returns with her new husband after the death of her mother—while refocusing the story on Carmen and emphasizing the depth and complexity of the characters with cinematic flair. Escamillo, whom Carmen falls in love with, is recast as a woman, and the new score by Arturo O’Farrill only references the familiar Bizet opera as it layers in Cuban folk music. Joining the new ballet on the Dos Mujeres program is Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Frida Kahlo–inspired Broken Wings (which SFB artistic director Tamara Rojo commissioned and starred in during her English National Ballet tenure). The evening marks the first double bill choreographed by women and the first full program dedicated to Latinx stories at SFB. April 4–14. sfballet.org. —CE

Eclipsing All Else

NEW YORK CITY  Ahead of the Great North American Eclipse on April 8, the feath3r theory alights at NYU Skirball to premiere a devised dance theater work about a group of friends who team up to watch the celestial event and miss it. Raja Feather Kelly draws on Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death, the popularity of the science fiction concept of the multiverse, and the ways social media exacerbates loneliness and society’s inability to face it for The Absolute Future (or Death, Loneliness, and The Absolute Future of the Multiverse, or How to Cover the Sun with Mud). April 5–6. nyuskirball.org. —CE

Carnival of Politics

SEATTLE  Choreographed and directed by Francesca Harper and performed by dancer Wendy Whelan and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Carnival of the Animals reframes the Camille Saint-Saëns classic to consider the animals of a political jungle as it responds to the January 6 insurrection and contemplates the future of democracy. The SOZO-produced work premieres at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts on April 6. sozoartists.com. —CE

Memories of Matriarchs

HOUSTON  With three “Bessie” Awards, the Rome Prize, and a sumptuous stage presence, Jasmine Hearn is one of the most acclaimed contemporary dance artists to come out of Houston. But Memory Fleet: A Return to Matr, a performance, installation, and online archive that preserves the memories of eight Black Houston matriarchs, is their first major commission in their hometown. Commissioned by DiverseWorks, the multidisciplinary project includes original sound scores, choreography, and garments, along with guest performances by former Houston Ballet soloist Sandra Organ Solis and additional vocals and performances by local dancers and “Houston Aunties,” as Hearn calls them. The premiere at Houston Met April 6–7 will be followed by tours to Pittsburgh and New York City. diverseworks.org. —Nancy Wozny

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

COSTA MESA, CA  American Ballet Theatre presents the North American premiere of Woolf Works, Wayne McGregor’s three-act meditation on the writings of Virginia Woolf, at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Inspired by her novels Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and The Waves as well as her letters and diaries, the critically acclaimed ballet eschews narrative adaptation to take a stream of consciousness approach to the modernist writer’s oeuvre. April 11–14. abt.org. —CE

Packed With Premieres

CHICAGO  South Chicago Dance Theatre returns to the Auditorium Theatre for an evening filled to the brim with premieres by Donald Byrd, Joshua Blake Carter, Monique Haley, Tsai Hsi Hung, Terence Marling, and founding executive artistic director Kia Smith. April 27. southchicagodancetheatre.com. —CE

The Weight of a Lie

ZURICH  Cathy Marston brings her penchant for literary adaptation to Atonement, her first new work as Ballett Zürich’s director. In Ian McEwan’s novel and Joe Wright’s acclaimed film adaptation, teenage writer Briony Tallis tells a deliberate lie about her older sister’s lover and spends the rest of her life attempting to make up for its unintended consequences. Marston transfers the action to the world of ballet, making Tallis a choreographer while wrestling with the story’s questions about the fallibility of memory and the nature of self-deception and guilt. April 28–June 7. opernhaus.ch. —CE

A Jazzy Centennial

Dance artists join the nationwide celebration of iconic jazz drummer and composer Max Roach.

Max Roach 100 at The Joyce Theater

NEW YORK CITY  Richard Colton curated The Joyce Theater’s Max Roach 100 program, which will feature a new work to Roach’s Percussion Bitter Sweet album by Ronald K. Brown for Malpaso Dance Company and EVIDENCE, A Dance Company; Rennie Harris Puremovement in The Dream/It’s Time; and a solo by tap star Ayodele Casel set to a series of duets by Roach and Cecil Taylor. April 2–7. joyce.org. —CE

Bill T. Jones at Harlem Stage

NEW YORK CITY  Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company revisits Degga, a 1995 collaboration between Jones, Max Roach, and Toni Morrison, as part of Harlem Stage’s E-Moves program. Also on offer is a new work by Roderick George. April 19–20. harlemstage.org. —CE

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Merce Cunningham in his Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of ThreeGerda Peterich, Courtesy Blake Zidell and Associates

Additional programs are happening everywhere from Cuba to France to Missouri. Although the Trust was not directly involved in some of these homages, such as a revival of Jérôme Bel’s Cédric Andrieux in Italy or commissions during a Merce-focused 25th Harkness Dance Festival at 92Y, this expansive approach fits hand in glove with how the Trust aims to extend and preserve Cunningham’s legacy. “Because of who Merce was as an artist, we have the opportunity to make connections beyond the dance field, beyond his technique and beyond his repertory, to the way that he was with his collaborators,” says Trevor Carlson, Centennial producer and Cunningham trustee. “It’s fantastic to be in a workshop, for example, with a group of people that includes an architect, an emergency-care technician, two choreographers and a filmmaker, to see how they interact thanks to tools provided by Merce.”

Ballet West in Cunningham’s SummerspaceBeau Pearson, Courtesy Richard Kornberg & Associates

Look no further than the Night of 100 Solos roster for evidence of this bridge between past and future. Staging artists and associates include more than 40 Cunningham company alumni, whose coaching sessions will be documented and added to the Trust’s archival Dance Capsules. Blue-chip performers, some of them making their debuts in Cunningham’s choreography on April 16, include Kyle Abraham, Matthew Ball, Peiju Chien-Pott, Siobhan Davies, Francesca Hayward, Sara Mearns, Vicky Shick, Jermaine Maurice Spivey and Beatriz Stix-Brunell.

“To celebrate his birthday in a way that signals what the legacy is really about, it has to take place in more than one city, so we have programs in Iowa City, in Oklahoma, in Miami,” says Ken Tabachnick, executive producer of Night of 100 Solos. “They’re all part of a conscious design to really push the work, process and ideas as broadly as we possibly can. The entire Centennial has been built around that concept—that the legacy has a life far beyond performance.”

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In 2017, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Dance Theatre of Harlem came together for a shared program at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh. “We got great feedback from the audience and I knew it was a good thing,” says Terrence Orr, artistic director of PBT. The joint production was such a success, they’re at it again this spring.

At the Cowles Center in Minneapolis, an initiative called MERGE, begun in 2016, has been partnering up local dance companies to help their dedicated audiences grow beyond their comfort zones. “We present 12 dance companies a year, so we are able to look for opportunities where we might cross-pollinate, say finding tap dancers who work well with breakers,” says Andrew Dolan, manager of advancement for the Cowles Center.

“Sure, the financials are complicated and require foundations and sponsors,” says Orr, “but there are a thousand reasons to do it and they are all good.” For the artists, these team-ups are an opportunity to experience new perspectives and creative processes in the studio. For Pittsburgh audiences, the DTH and PBT shared program was a chance to see more dancers of color onstage with their home company.

“We want to meet a dance patron where they are at and then introduce them to even more,” says Dolan.

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We caught up with her for our “Spotlight” series:

What do you think is the most common misconception about dancers?

When I meet new people and tell them that I am a dancer, their first questions are usually something like “Where do you dance?” or “What’s your company called?” As a freelance dance artist and choreographer, it’s a little more difficult to respond to that.

What was the last dance performance you saw?

Malpaso Dance Company at The Music Center in Los Angeles

What other career would you like to try?

Film directing or real estate

What’s the most-played song on your phone?

Pool Party by Julia Jacklin

What’s the first item on your bucket list?

Write a screenplay

Do you have a pre-performance ritual?

Arrive hours early for mental preparation, abdominals, push-ups, caffeine and “save it for the stage.”

Where can you be found two hours after a performance ends?

In this phase of my life, sitting in my backyard with anyone who came to support the performance.

What’s your favorite book?

Any book by Rebecca Solnit

Where did you last vacation?

Joshua Tree, California

What app do you spend the most time on?

Instagram

Who is the person you most want to dance with—living or dead?

To name a few: Ian Eastwood, Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Justin Peck, and I always love dancing with my wife, Dana Wilson, Patrick Cook, Bobbi Jene Smith, Ajani Johnson-Goffe and Aidan Carberry

What’s your go-to cross-training routine?

Hiking

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

That I shouldn’t move to New York

If you could relive one performance, what would it be?

Michelle Dorrance’s first Myelination premiere for the Fall For Dance Festival at New York City Center or my Capezio Ace Awards piece “Let Go or Be Dragged” with some of my best friends in the world

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