This edition of Dance List is the last one I’ll be sending for a few months; I’m taking some time off to have a baby (!) who is due to arrive in just a few weeks. I’m not sure exactly how long this hiatus will last, but I hope to be back by the end of the summer. (If you’re a paying subscriber, see my recent note about pausing paid subscriptions.)
I also just published my last Danceletter Convo for a little while, with the dancer and content creator Jennifer Mika Nelson, who rose to TikTok fame in the spring of 2020. I first spoke with Jennifer nearly five years ago, at the height of TikTok’s dance boom, for a story in Dance Magazine. Since then, she has fully made a career of dancing for the screens in our hands, while also pursuing work in film, TV, and live performance. Whenever I talk with her, I learn a lot about what it takes to navigate the business of dance on social media, a world I’m not so familiar with. Our conversation was really fun and illuminating for me, and it’s temporarily unpaywalled here, through tonight.
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 or suggested-donation event.
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.
I often add to Dance List as I learn of new events. The latest is on the Danceletter website. To submit an addition or a correction, 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.
April Highlight: Dance Theatre of Harlem
DTH’s spring season at City Center (April 10-13) includes ballets by William Forsythe, Jodie Gates, George Balanchine, and the company’s artistic director, Robert Garland. I’m especially looking forward to the company premiere of The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Forsythe’s '90s ode to classicism, and the New York premiere of Garland’s The Cookout, to the R&B and funk sounds of Jill Scott, Cymande, Caron Wheeler, and Brass Construction. Both are on the April 10 and 13 programs, alongside Balanchine’s buoyant Donizetti Variations and the world premiere of Gates’s The Passage of Being.
Updated 4/8/25
Performances
Week of Monday, March 31
*April 1: Open Studios: These are precarious times…, feat. Martita Abril, Natalie Green, Catherine Kirk, and Molly Poerstel, curated by Joanna Kotze, at CPR
*April 1: Stage Dive at Triskelion Arts
April 1-13: Martha Graham Dance Company at the Joyce
April 3: Caitlin Trainor/Trainor Dance, Fact or Fiction? at SWING 46
April 3-4: Neva Guido, Generator at Pageant
April 3-5: Sara Mearns: Artists at the Center, with works by Guillaume Côté/ Jonathon Young and Jamar Roberts, at New York City Center
April 4-5: Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, The Reclamation at NYU Skirball
*April 5: DraftWork: Anna Thérèse Witenberg and Dominica Greene at Danspace Project
April 5-6: Sheep Meadow Dance Theatre at Arts on Site
April 6 and 9: Catherine Messina/rogue wave, (my battery is low) and it is getting dark at CPR
Week of Monday, April 7
*April 7: Movement Research at the Judson Church, feat. Tina Bararian, Ogemdi Ude, and Maima, The Water Spirit, at Judson Memorial Church
April 8: Fast Forward, feat. Alison Cook Beatty Dance and Unspoken Dance, curated by Sangeeta Yesley, at Dixon Place
*April 8: Open Performance, feat. Nina Jakobson, LJ Leach, and Yuxi Ma, with moderating artist Alexa West, at Movement Research, 122CC
*April 9: Maurice Ivy with Jordan W. Carter, NIGHT FM: The Grievances, part of Black Aesthetics, curated by Malcolm-x Betts and Arien Wilkerson, at Judson Memorial Church
April 9 (also April 6): Catherine Messina/rogue wave, (my battery is low) and it is getting dark at CPR
April 10: Art Workers are Artists Too, organized by Sarai Frazier, at Performance Space New York
April 10: Katie Corrao/KTCO, SAT. at Arts on Site
April 10: Nola Sporn Smith Presents…, feat. Rebecca Patek, Amelia Heintzelman with Dorothy Carlos, Sarah Galdes, and Jack Meriwether with Vera Beren, at Stone Circle Theatre
April 10-12: Chloe London at Triskelion Arts
April 10-13: Dance Theatre of Harlem at New York City Center
April 10-13: John Jasperse Projects, Tides, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa
April 10-13: Keith A. Thompson & danceTactics performance group, Love Alone Anthology Project, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Downstairs Theatre at La MaMa
April 11-12: Future Dance Festival at 92NY (online program available April 10-20)
April 11-12: Daniel Léveillé Danse, Amour, acide et noix at NYU Skirball
April 12-13: (All)Ways Dance Company at Arts on Site
April 13: Fertile Ground New Works Showcase, feat. Louise Coleman, Celeste Goldes, Olivia Jones, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, and Syd Thiebaut, at Green Space
Through April 13: Martha Graham Dance Company at the Joyce
Week of Monday, April 14
*April 14: Movement Research at the Judson Church, feat. Luna Beller-Tadiar, Shua Group, and Yun Lee, at Judson Memorial Church
April 14: Works & Process at the Guggenheim: New Jersey Ballet: Maria Kowroski and Harrison Ball at the Guggenheim Museum
April 15-20: BODYTRAFFIC, This Reminds Me of You, feat. works by Juel D. Lane, Trey McIntyre, and Matthew Neenan, at the Joyce
April 18-19: Seán Curran Company, PATH and Everywhere All the Time at NYU Skirball
April 18-20: Shared Program: Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company and Pat Catterson, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Downstairs Theatre at La MaMa
April 19: Pageant’s 3rd Anniversary Gala at Pageant
Week of Monday, April 21
*April 21: Movement Research at the Judson Church, feat. Paris Cullen, Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC, and Morgan Gregory, at Judson Memorial Church
April 21-27: Uptown Rhythm Dance Festival, presented by 92NY and Works & Process at the Guggenheim
April 21: Rotunda Dance: Swing with Danny Jonokuchi & The Revisionists and Gaby Cook at the Guggenheim Museum
April 22: Nic Gareiss/Jake Blount and Rachna Nivas at 92NY
April 23: Derick Grant, Nicholas Young, Chrybaby Cozie, Ladies of Hip-Hop, and the Wondertwins at 92NY
April 24: Max Pollak Group, 25th Stage Anniversary feat. Los Muñequitos de Matanzas at 92NY
April 25 (and April 26 online): Soles of Duende and LaTasha Barnes at 92NY
April 27: Brenda Bufalino & Company at the Guggenheim Museum
*April 22: Open Performance, feat. Araya Morris, Kierra Nguyen & Emily Young, and Andrew Riad, with moderating artist Wendell Gray II, at Movement Research, 122CC
April 22-27: A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in works by Andrea Miller, Rena Butler, Paul Singh, and Kyle Abraham, at the Joyce
April 22-June 1: New York City Ballet spring season at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
April 23-24: Nile Harris, Organizational Strategic Consultant at Performance Space New York
April 24-26: Celia Rowlson-Hall, SISSY at Baryshnikov Arts Center
April 24-26: Split Bill #44: Valentina Baché and Kanon Sugino at Triskelion Arts
April 25-26: New York Theatre Ballet, Legends & Visionaries: Postmodern Dance at Judson Church, with works by Trisha Brown, Douglas Dunn, David Gordon, Amanda Treiber, and James Waring, at Judson Memorial Church
April 25-27: Shared Program: Nic Gareiss/Alexis Chartrand and Megumi Eda, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Club at La MaMa
April 25-27: Shared Program: Jesse Zaritt/Pamela Pietro and Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Downstairs Theatre at La MaMa
April 26-27: Amalia Suryani, Ta’na Nirau, part of La MaMa Moves!, at the Community Arts Space at La MaMa
Screenings, Talks & Exhibitions
*April 3: Black Queer Dance: Gay Men and the Politics of Passing for Almost Straight, conversation with Mark Broomfield, Duane Cyrus, Carlos Jones, and Aubrey Lynch, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Opening April 11: Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor at the Museum of the City of New York
April 12: Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets Reunion at Danspace Project
*April 16: Studies Project: Moving Through Noise – Decolonial Feminist and Queer Arab Poetics at Movement Research, 122CC
*April 16-Sept. 13: Room to Move: Dance Theater Workshop and Alternative Histories of Downtown Dance at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*April 21: Breaking Form: Celebrating Choreographer Jane Comfort, screening and conversation with Jane Comfort, Alexandra Nikolchev, Sean Donovan, and Leslie Cuyjet, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*April 24: Dancing On Dangerous Ground: 25 Years On, screening and conversation with Jean Butler and Colin Dunne, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
April 26: Film Screening and Conversation with Reggie Wilson: Some Reflections on Prayerful Platforms at Danspace Project
*April 27: Sundays on Broadway: Emily Coates, Invisible Universe at WeisAcres
*Through May 31 (with pop-up performance April 26): Legacy, Lineage and Liberation: An Examination of Urban Bush Women’s Art-Making and Community Organizing Praxis at the Apollo Stages at The Victoria
p.s.
Aside from my conversation with Jennifer Mika Nelson, I don’t have much new writing to share this month. But March brought some wonderful guest speaking and teaching opportunities, with the writing community at Louis Place and Rebecca Chaleff’s Global Dance Studies class at the University at Buffalo. Especially in this time of deep transition in my life, I was grateful for these moments to share and reflect on my writing practice and the work of some of my teachers and mentors.