It’s been a dizzying end of the semester at Barnard/Columbia, where I teach, hence the late arrival of this list; my attention has been a bit scattered, to put it mildly. More on that another time maybe; for now, it’s a relief to devote my brain to the straightforward task of list-making! This one covers Monday, April 29 through Sunday, May 26. For events this weekend, see Dance List 7.
This month’s unintended delay has got me thinking that it might make more sense, in general, to send out Dance List a little later in the month, so I might switch things up moving forward. If you have thoughts about optimal timing, please let me know.
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 sections: performances (week by week) followed by a roundup of dance-related screenings, talks, and exhibitions.
* = free, suggested donation, or sliding-scale ticket options
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 below. If you see something missing that you’d like me to include, or if you have a correction, please write to me at danceletter@substack.com, and I’ll do my best to add/change it. (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 of my own to share, you can find it at the end under “p.s.”
Updated 5/17/24 at 11:15am
Performances
Week of Monday, April 29
April 29-30 (also April 28): Ryan Ponder McNamara, Kinetic Grace at Works & Process at the Guggenheim
April 30-May 12: Message in a Bottle, directed and choreographed by Kate Prince, music and lyrics by Sting, at New York City Center
*May 1: Black Aesthetics: Arien Wilkerson, curated by Malcolm-x Betts and Arien Wilkerson, at Judson Memorial Church
May 1-5: American Ballet Theatre Studio Company at the Joyce Theater
*May 2: “Every Day Is Earth Day” with works by Laura Shapiro, Davalois Fearon, and Paloma McGregor, part of Boogie Down Dance Series, at the BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
May 2: Martha Graham Dance Company, “GrahamDeconstructed: Appalachian Spring” at the Martha Graham Studio Theater
May 2-3: The Moving Architects, O My Soul at Arts on Site
May 2-4: Nicholas Ryan Gant + Shamel Pitts: A shared evening, part of Platform 2024: A Delicate Ritual, curated by Kyle Abraham, at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
May 3: “De Aquí y Allá / From Here to There” with works by Samir Andrades, Indio Melendez, and Antonio Ramos, part of Boogie Down Dance Series at BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
*May 3-5: Heather Kravas, overly merry at the Chocolate Factory
May 3-5: Peridance Contemporary Dance Company with works by Chanel DaSilva, Dolly Sfeir, Igal Perry, and Mike Tyus, at Peridance Center
*May 4: Kim Brandt, Choices, staged within Tara Donovan's “Stratagems,” at Pace Gallery
May 4: Rachel Gill, The Eight Positions at Arts on Site
May 4-6: Jody Oberfelder Projects, And Then, Now at Green-Wood Cemetery
May 5: The Pocket Fuel Groovers, “Rubix Rush: An Evening in the Pocket” at Arts on Site
Through June 2: New York City Ballet spring season at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Week of Monday, May 6
May 6: “Celebrating Duke Ellington’s 125th Birthday in the City of Jazz,” presented by the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts in Association with the American Tap Dance Foundation, at Symphony Space
*May 6: Movement Research at the Judson Church feat. j. bouey, Marie Lloyd Paspe, and Daniela and Gabby, at Judson Memorial Church
May 6 (also May 4-5): Jody Oberfelder Projects, And Then, Now at Green-Wood Cemetery
May 6, 8, 11: Emilee Lord and Karen Cecilia, Timestamp at the Tank
May 7-12: Gibney Company in works by Twyla Tharp, Yue Yin, and Jermaine Spivey and Spenser Theberge, at the Joyce Theater
May 9: Erin Landers, other sights/other sites at Arts on Site
May 9-10 (postponed): Without Fanfare, choreography by Deborah Hay, performance by Amelia Heintzelman, Julie Mayo, and Teddy Tedholm, at Pageant
May 9-11: Morgan McEwen / MorDance at New York Live Arts
May 10-11: “Beyond Ballet, Beyond Hip-Hop” feat. Hana Sakai, Toshiki Okada, and MWMW led by Moto Takahashi, at Japan Society
May 10-11: Take Root: Tina Croll + Company and Ani Javian & Benjamin Roach at Green Space
May 10 and 12: Dancing the Gods festival, feat. Kasi Aysola and Archana Raja (5/10) and Rama Vaidyanathan (5/12), curated by Rajika Puri, at Asia Society
May 10-25: j. bouey, SATURN: A Revelation — introducing the Inter-Dimensional Time-Traveling Disco Space Opera Dance Band: “The Living Ancestors” at JACK
May 11: Boogie Down Dance Compilation, part of Boogie Down Dance Series, at BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
*May 11: Kevin Wynn Memorial, part of Platform 2024: A Delicate Ritual, curated by Kyle Abraham, at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
*May 11-12, 18: Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, at the 550 Garden (550 Madison Ave)
May 11-12: Meat Market Productions, Yak Milk at Arts on Site
May 12: Fertile Ground New Works Showcase, feat. Sloka Lyengar, Eto’o Tsana & Mabina Danseuses, ERELONG, APulso Dance Project, AbunDANCE Company, and Kristina Hay & Jamie Robinson, at Green Space
*May 12: Sundays on Broadway feat. Jon Kinzel, Julie Mayo, Ella Dawn W-S, and video by Cathy Weis, at WeisAcres
May 12-13: Caleb Teicher, This Is The Part When You Go Woo, with Michael Benjamin Washington and Ameya Marie Okamoto, at Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Through May 12: Message in a Bottle, directed and choreographed by Kate Prince, music and lyrics by Sting, at New York City Center
Through June 2: New York City Ballet spring season at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Week of Monday, May 13
*May 13: Movement Research at the Judson Church feat. Clae Lu & Kim Savarino and Luis Lara Malvacías, at Judson Memorial Church
May 13 (and online May 14): Paul Taylor Dance Company in works by Taylor and Lauren Lovette, at 92NY
May 13 (also May 12): Caleb Teicher, This Is The Part When You Go Woo, with Michael Benjamin Washington and Ameya Marie Okamoto, at Works & Process at the Guggenheim
May 13: Toulmin Showcase, feat. choreographers Ausia Jones, Tiler Peck, and Madeline Hollander, and composers Erica "Twelve45" Blunt and Wang Lu, at National Sawdust
May 14-25: Parsons Dance in works by David Parsons, Penny Saunders, and Jamar Roberts, at the Joyce Theater
*May 15: Black Aesthetics: crackhead Barney, curated by Malcolm-x Betts and Arien Wilkerson, at Judson Memorial Church
May 16: Sydney Burtis / Elements of Sound at Arts on Site
*May 16: OPEN AiR | Rebecca Patek: Tough Titties at Center for Performance Research
May 16-June 2: La Mama Moves! Dance Festival at La MaMa
May 17-18: nora chipaumire, ShebeenDUB, part of E-Moves, at Harlem Stage
May 17-18: Fresh Tracks New Works feat. Julia Antinozzi, Vinson Fraley, Liony Garcia, and Symara Sarai, at New York Live Arts
May 17-18: URBAN / TRIBE, Maybe in the future, I deserve you at Center for Performance Research
*May 17-25: Alex Romania, Face Eaters at the Chocolate Factory
*May 18 (also May 11-12): Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, at the 550 Garden (550 Madison Ave)
*May 18: Dance Parade and DanceFest at Astor Place and Tompkins Square Park
May 18: Dance Theatre of Harlem, Harlem Mouse/Country Mouse at the Apollo
*May 18: Yackez, Party as Practice, at LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island
May 18-19: Kathryn Alter and Dancers, presented by Women in Motion, at Arts on Site
May 18-19: Mason Lee Dance Theater, The Introduction Season at Abrons Arts Center
May 18-19: Michele Rizzo, HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1
*May 18-19: Mariana Valencia and Katie Workum, “Now and Then: Mariana and Katie” at Kestrels
May 18-19: Anh Vo, Common Fetish, part of group exhibition Means of Production, organized by curatorial collective Lunch Hour, at Shisanwu LLC Studio
*May 19: Sundays on Broadway feat. Stephen Petronio, Mina Nishimura, Nami Yamamoto, and Cayleen Del Rosario, at WeisAcres
Through June 2: New York City Ballet spring season at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Week of Monday, May 20
*May 20: Movement Research at the Judson Church feat. Josefina Maro, Emily Barasch, Al Evangelista, and angel edwards, at Judson Memorial Church
*May 20: Rotunda Dance Party: LayeRhythm at Works & Process at the Guggenheim
May 20-21: Blackbird Dance Company, The Message at Arts on Site
*May 21: OPEN AiR | Malcolm-x Betts: what happens when things become undone? at Center for Performance Research
*May 22: OPEN STUDIOS | Oren Barnoy, Dominica Greene, Seta Morton, and Stevfni.XYZ, curated by Sarah Michelson at Center for Performance Research
*May 23: Kat Brown, Archive of Forgotten Vibrations (extended) and J. Alex Mathews,
unbearable lightness at Center for Performance ResearchMay 23: Sophia Pielet & Aly Candland and Dan Doran at Arts on Site
*May 23-24: Iliana Penichet-Ramirez at Pageant
May 23-25: taisha paggett + David Roussève: A shared evening, part of Platform 2024: A Delicate Ritual, curated by Kyle Abraham, at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
May 24-26: Katy Pyle / Ballez, Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) at the Chelsea Factory
May 24-27: DanceAfrica 2024, Cameroon: The Origin of Communities/A Calabash of Culture, feat. Cie La Calebasse, the Billie's Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers, and Women of the Calabash, at Brooklyn Academy of Music
May 26: Esmé Boyce Dance, The Humbling or Chapter of Mama: Part 1 at Arts on Site
Through May 25: Parsons Dance in works by David Parsons, Penny Saunders, and Jamar Roberts, at the Joyce Theater
*Through May 25: Alex Romania, Face Eaters at the Chocolate Factory
Through June 2: La Mama Moves! Dance Festival at La MaMa
Through June 2: New York City Ballet spring season at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Screenings, Talks & Exhibitions
April 29: Screening of Merce Cunningham’s Beach Birds, A New Arrangement for Beach Sessions 2023, filmed by Alex Munro, at Head Hi
*May 6: “Alastair Macaulay on Balanchine Rarities” at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*May 20: “Lori Belilove Goes Public with Isadora Duncan’s Manuscript ‘Exercizes for the Dance’” at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*Through May 7: ALL ARTS’ Past, Present, Future dance film festival, with film premieres by Katy Pyle, Raja Feather Kelly, and Ayodele Casel, streaming online
*Through August: MX Oops, UnFiNiShEd aNiMaL gallery installation at New York Live Arts
*Ongoing: Andrea Kleine, The End Is Not What I Thought It Would Be, streaming online; watch for free with discount code ARIES for a limited time
p.s.
Some recent(ish) work of my own: on Lacina Coulibaly’s Until the Lion Tells the Story… at New York Live Arts and the nearly 100-year-old Martha Graham Dance Company at City Center (including a very fun and centennial-worthy appearance by FKA twigs).
Earlier this month, I was honored to take part in a panel on dance history at the Organization of American Historians annual conference, in New Orleans, alongside Juliana DeVaan, Emily A. Hawk, Julie Malnig, and Anne Searcy — an inspiring group. I shared some long-brewing reflections on the role of dance criticism in historical research, which felt like an important beginning-of-something; maybe they will find a more public-facing home soon. I also had the pleasure of leading an online workshop for writers of thINKingDANCE, the Philly-based online publication with a vital commitment to local dance coverage. A big thank-you to the tD team for having me.