Generally I tuck my writing at the end of this newsletter, but since this just came out today, and I’m excited to share it, here’s a gift link to my story on Kyle Abraham and his upcoming premiere at the Park Avenue Armory, Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful. It will also be in print in on Sunday. The gorgeous photos are by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.
The month ahead is surprisingly packed, and not just with Nutcrackers (though there are plenty of those and other holiday fare). A busy January festival season is also on the horizon; expect a lengthy list in late December.
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A few notes for navigating this list:
The events are listed in order of opening date. Where listed as “through” a certain date, the event has already opened.
The list has two main sections: performances (week by week) followed by a roundup of dance-related screenings, talks, and exhibitions.
* = free event (note: this no longer indicates sliding-scale or suggested donation events, just free ones!)
The information below is current as of the last time I checked, but things can change, and while I strive for accuracy, I will inevitably make a few mistakes. Please visit the event websites for up-to-date details and full date/time info.
Want to let me know about an upcoming show? Reply to this email or write to me at danceletter@substack.com. (To keep the workload of this project manageable, I tend not to list student recitals or showcases, as much as I appreciate them!)
When I have work/news of my own to share, you can find it at the end under p.s.
December Highlight
I first learned about flamenco artist Nélida Tirado’s Dime Quién Soy (Tell Me Who I Am) a few years ago, when a student interviewed her for my Dance in New York City class. (Nélida and I are both adjuncts at Barnard.) It sounded intriguing on paper, and I’m delighted to now have a chance to see it in person. An exploration of cross-cultural identity through the lens of flamenco and Latin dance forms like salsa and bomba y plena, the show began as a solo at Joe’s Pub and has evolved into a larger ensemble production, with original live music by Gonzalo Grau. It comes to Abrons Arts Center Dec. 13-22. Get a glimpse into the creative process in this video from Jacob’s Pillow, where the group was in residence in 2021. Tickets and more info here.
Updated 12/4/24 at 4:42pm ET
Performances
Week of Monday, Nov. 25
Nov. 29-Jan. 4: New York City Ballet, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Nov. 30: Christy Walsh / stringdance+media at Arts on Site
Dec. 1: New York Theatre Ballet, Keith Michael’s The Nutcracker at Kupferberg Center for the Arts (also Dec. 21-22 at Florence Gould Hall)
Dec. 1: Sundays on Broadway feat. Emily Coates and Iréne Hultman, Kris Lee, Wendy Perron, and Cathy Weis, at WeisAcres
Through Dec. 1: Complexions Contemporary Ballet at the Joyce
Week of Monday, Dec. 2
*Dec. 2: Movement Research at the Judson Church feat. Sunhi Willa Keller, Roxanne Young, and Babou Sanneh, at Judson Memorial Church
Dec. 3-14: Kyle Abraham, Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful at Park Avenue Armory
Dec. 3-15: Caleb Teicher, A Very SW!NG OUT Holiday at the Joyce
*Dec. 4: Black Aesthetics feat. Dominica Green, curated by Malcolm-x Betts and Arien Wilkerson, at Judson Memorial Church
Dec. 4, 5 and 8: Lydia Johnson Dance at Martha Graham Studio Theater
Dec. 4-Jan. 5: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater winter season at New York City Center
Dec. 5-6: Amelia Heintzelman with Dorothy Carlos, Cavity at Pageant
Dec. 5-7: Nature Theater of Oklahoma, No President at NYU Skirball
Dec. 5-7: Split Bill #43: Cayleen Del Rosario and Verbal Animal at Triskelion
*Dec. 6-7: Bintou Dembélé, Palabre/s en mode marron and Rite de passage || solo 2 at Performance Space New York
Dec. 6-7: Disagreeable Creatures / Danita Shaheen, Oddities, at Arts on Site
Dec. 6-7: Fall Movement feat. chameckilerner, Cal Fish, Marcelline Mandeng Nken, Alejandra Ramos, and Kat Sotelo, at CPR
Dec. 6-7: Urban Bush Women, Solo Meditations at 92NY
Dec. 6-8: Peter & the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev with Isaac Mizrahi, choreography by John Heginbotham, presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Dec. 6-8: Anna Thérèse Witenberg, Heat at Kestrels
Dec. 7: Movement Research Special Performance Event, feat. Edisa Weeks, Beth Gill, Marjani Forté-Saunders, Molly Lieber, Adrienne Truscott, Lucy Sexton, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, and Wally Cardona, at 541 Broadway
Dec. 8: Sundays on Broadway feat. Yoshiko Chuma, Nile Harris, and Lisa Kraus, at WeisAcres
Dec. 8: tidbit collective, back pocket at Arts on Site
Through Jan. 4: New York City Ballet, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Week of Monday, Dec. 9
*Dec. 9: Movement Research at the Judson Church feat. Kensaku Shinohara, Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein, and Martita Abril, at Judson Memorial Church
Dec. 10-14: Gibney Company, “Up Close” with works by William Forsythe, Emilie Leriche, and Mthuthuzeli November, at New York Live Arts
Dec. 12: Mor Mendel, The Book of Love at CPR
Dec. 12-13: Joel Dean and Tenaya Kelleher, A Reenactment of Events That Are About to Take Place at Pageant
Dec. 12-13: Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, “JOY: Dances for Midwinter” at Stone Circle Theatre
Dec. 12-14: Tess Dworman, Everything Must Go at the Chocolate Factory
Dec. 12-14: Jade Manns and Glenn Potter-Takata, A shared evening at Danspace Project
Dec. 12-15: Brooklyn Ballet, The Brooklyn Nutcracker at the Theater at City Tech
Dec. 12-22: Mark Morris Dance Group, The Hard Nut at BAM
Dec. 13-14: Sneak Preview: Lloyd Knight’s The Drama at Martha Graham Studio Theater
Dec. 13-14: Peter Stathas Dance, From Where We Ascend/Wake at Triskelion
Dec. 13-14: Take Root: Kelley Donovan and Susie McHugh at Green Space
Dec. 13-15: Will Rawls, Parable of the Guest, part of Edges of Ailey, at the Whitney
Dec. 13-15: TAKE Dance / Takehiro Ueyama at Arts on Site
Dec. 13-22: Nélida Tirado, Dime Quién Soy (Tell Me Who I Am) at Abrons Arts Center
Dec. 14: The 2024 Graham 2 Holiday Event at Martha Graham Studio Theater
Dec. 14: The Living Earth Show and Post:ballet, Lyra at 92NY
Dec. 14: Isaac Mizrahi and Nico Muhly with Dance Heginbotham, Third Bird, presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Dec. 14 and 19 (also streaming Dec. 20-23): David Parker / The Bang Group, Nut/Cracked at 92NY
Dec. 15: Fertile Ground New Works Showcase feat. Mark Bankin, Destiny Nguyen, Alicia Raquel, Iris Sewell, Lillian Smith, and Dee Toussaint, at Green Space
Dec. 15: More Fish Dance Company, A Day at the Lake at Dixon Place
Through Dec. 14: Kyle Abraham, Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful at Park Avenue Armory
Through Dec. 15: Caleb Teicher, A Very SW!NG OUT Holiday at the Joyce
Through Jan. 4: New York City Ballet, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Through Jan. 5: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater winter season at New York City Center
Week of Monday, Dec. 16
Dec. 17-Jan. 5: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the Joyce
Dec. 19 (also Dec. 14 and streaming Dec. 20-23): David Parker / The Bang Group, Nut/Cracked at 92NY
Dec. 19-22: Dances Patrelle, Francis Patrelle's The Yorkville Nutcracker at Gerald W. Lynch Theater
Dec. 21: Abdel R. Salaam / Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration at the Apollo
*Dec. 21: Draftwork: Symara Sarai and Anh Vo at Danspace Project
Dec. 21-22: Ailey II: Harmonic Echo, part of Edges of Ailey, at the Whitney
Dec. 21-22: New York Theatre Ballet, Keith Michael’s The Nutcracker at Florence Gould Hall (also Dec. 1 at Kupferberg Center for the Arts)
Through Dec. 22: Mark Morris Dance Group, The Hard Nut at BAM
Through Dec. 22: Nélida Tirado, Dime Quién Soy (Tell Me Who I Am) at Abrons Arts Center
Through Jan. 4: New York City Ballet, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Through Jan. 5: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater winter season at New York City Center
Week of Monday, Dec. 23
Through Jan. 4: New York City Ballet, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Through Jan. 5: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater winter season at New York City Center
Through Jan. 5: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the Joyce
Screenings, Talks & Exhibitions
Dec. 6-8: Obsessed with Light (on Loïe Fuller) at Quad Cinema
Dec. 10: Fjord Review Dance Critics’ Festival at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*Dec. 12: Celebrating Original Documentation at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*Dec. 16: Celebrating Danspace’s 60th Anniversary at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*Dec. 18: The Dance Historian Is In: Nicole Duffy on Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Through Dec. 1: Everything You Have Is Yours, directed by Tatyana Tenenbaum, streaming as part of DOC NYC
Through Dec. 7: Annie-B Parson: Cartography of a Dance at Argosy Book Store
Through Dec. 31: Dance to Belong: A History of Dance at 92NY, curated by Jessica Friedman and Ninotchka Bennahum with Jeanne Haffner, at Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, 92NY
*Through Jan. 6: Gillian Wearing, Dancing in Peckham at MoMA PS1
Through Jan. 26: Gabrielle Lansner, I AM NOT OK, part of The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
Through Feb. 9: Edges of Ailey at the Whitney
*Through March 1: The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (with exhibition tour Dec. 11)
*Through March 24: Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon at MoMA PS1
p.s.
Just one other piece of writing to share this month: my review of Netta Yerushalmy’s MOVEMENT at NYU Skirball.