12 Dance Performances to See This June Including Free Events
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BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Runs June 5-8
No need to wait until the holidays to catch Alvin Ailey in NYC. The venerable troupe hits BAM for four performances this month with a lineup that includes the deeply spiritual world premiere The Holy Blues, choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women fame in collaboration with company dancers Samantha Figgins and Chalvar Monteiro. Two of the troupe’s most enduring large-scale works, Ailey’s Revelations and Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, along with Elisa Monte’s hypnotically sensual duet Treading round out the program.
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Performance Mix Festival 39
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street near Pitt Street on the Lower East Side
Runs June 5-8
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Bryant Park, 40th to 42nd Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs June 5, 6 and 13. FREE
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School of American Ballet Workshop Performances
Runs June 7-9
See the dance stars of tomorrow today at this student showcase for the New York City Ballet-affiliated school. Still in their teens, these up-and-comers take on challenging NYCB repertory, including George Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations and Cortège Hongrois and the final movement of Jerome Robbins’ dynamic Glass Pieces, along with the world premiere Schubert Symphony choreographed by School of American Ballet alum Laine Habony.
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American Ballet Theatre Summer Season
Metropolitan Opera House, Metropolitan Opera House, 30 Lincoln Center Plaza at 62nd Street in Lincoln Square
June 10-July 19. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets to Woolf Works.
The ballets featured in ABT’s summer lineup represent a wide range of styles that show off the troupe’s vivid and highly individual dancers. If you love the classics, the season opens and closes with the perennially popular Swan Lake and in between there’s Giselle. For contemporary fans, there’s Wayne McGregor’s Virginia Woolf triptych Woolf Works and Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon’s dramatically potent adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Finally, ABT’s glorious Sylvia straddles the centuries: Léo Delibes’ 1876 score is one of the finest ever composed for ballet while Frederick Ashton’s 1952 choreography is elegant, fleet and evocative.
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The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Runs June 12-15
Expect exuberance and aplomb at this annual showcase for dedicated students from Ballet Tech, NYC’s only public middle school with a rigorous dance curriculum. In addition to works by Eliot Feld, who founded the institution, the lineup includes Brian Reeder’s theatrical Blueloon, a reimagining of the magical short film The Red Balloon, and artistic director Dionne Figgins’ Mystère for the graduating class. Edgar Peterson, a Ballet Tech grad, choreographs Lisse for his fellow alums, which is set to a score by Isak Gaines. Excerpts from Paquita staged by Max Azaro round out the program.
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Joy-Marie Thompson: Farewell My Fool
Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street at Banker Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Runs June 12-14
Joy-Marie Thompson, the Trisk’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, has performance credits ranging from Sleep No More to The Metropolitan Opera in addition to collaborations with myriad downtown choreographers. Their alter ego JoyBoy da Clown takes center stage in Farewell My Fool, an interactive piece that explores challenging subjects such as the legacy of exploitation in art through dark humor. Christian A. Warner directs and the score is by Ella Josephine Julia Moore.
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Fresh Tracks New Works
New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Chelsea
Runs June 13-14
For 60 years, this season-long residency program has incubated boundary-pushing works by up-and-coming choreographers. This two-night showcase features a quartet of world premieres by the current crop of emerging dance-makers: Maxi Hawkeye Canion, Kashia Kancey, Jade Manns and Ayo ohs.
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The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
June 17-22
For six decades, Paul Taylor crafted a rich array of unpredictable dances for his namesake troupe. Many have become beloved mainstays, including the Bach-set Esplanade, marking its 50th anniversary this season. The company’s current artistic director Michael Novak digs into the company’s archives for this Joyce run, which features major revivals of early works including Churchyard (1969) and Tablet (1960). Neither has been mounted for decades and they are being attentively reconstructed by a dedicated team of former company members, including Carolyn Adams and Nicholas Gunn.
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El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street in East Harlem
Runs June 20-22
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Pilobolus: Other Worlds Collection
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
June 24-July 13
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Various locations at Lincoln Center.
Runs June 25-27. FREE
David Dorfman has long been an idiosyncratic presence on the local dance scene, creating robust choreography that fuses the personal and the political. His troupe’s three-day residency at Lincoln Center is part of the ambitious Summer for the City series. The main event is on Wednesday, June 25, when the company performs the peace-themed Truce Songs at Damrosch Park featuring live music by Lizzy de Lise and Sam Crawford. On Thursday, June 26, Dorfman and company offer the participatory workshop Kinetic Diplomacy at Play. Friday, June 27 brings Dorfman’s contribution to the Silent Disco series.
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