14 Dance Performances to See in NYC This Fall
Catch NYCB and ABT, international companies at New York City Center and BAM more
In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, most of the shows listed below require masks, and a few check vaccination status. While we are doing our best to keep this article up to date, before buying tickets to any event, double-check the COVID-19 rules so you are prepared.
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Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets in the East Village
Runs September 14-18. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Proof of vaccination required. Masks are optional but encouraged.
A multimedia dance-theatre collaboration between vocal dynamo Breezy Lee, drag diva Joey Arias, corset couturier Mister Pearl, costumers from Oceanallover, and choreographers Laura Victoria Ward and Alex Rigg, Splitting My Sides is an eye-popping exploration of personal evolution. Inspired by the process of reptiles shedding their skin, the show consists of several short chapters featuring performers casting off layers of costumes to transform and grow. Part of Theater for the New City’s eclectic Dream Up Festival.
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Kyle Marshall Choreography: Onyx
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street at Pitt Street on the Lower East Side
Runs September 16-17
Masks are required.
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New York City Ballet Fall Season
David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 62nd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
Runs September 20-October 16. If you’re a TDF member, log in and search for NYC Ballet to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
New York City Ballet returns to Lincoln Center with five distinct programs. As always, the treasure trove of masterpieces by the company’s founding ballet master and choreographer, George Balanchine, is well represented, with works by Jerome Robbins and Alexei Ratmansky providing brilliant contrast to his neoclassical wonders. Must-sees include Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Divertimento No. 15, Episodes, Apollo, Symphony in Three Movements and Symphony in C; Robbins’ Piano Pieces, The Cage and Fancy Free; and Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH. Meanwhile, a landmark: Pop icon Solange Knowles is making history as the first Black woman to write music for the troupe with her score for a new ballet choreographed by rising talent Gianna Reisen.
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New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs September 21-October 2.
Masks are required.
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New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Chelsea
Runs September 27-October 2.
Proof of full vaccination and masks are required.
Tabula Rasa resets Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old tragedy Oedipus Rex in a modern-day nightclub in this high-tech dance-theatre piece featuring laser light effects and an EDM score. The narrative follows the impact of COVID-19 on Oedipus’ livelihood as he and his colleagues seek out information and try to survive. Much like the original Greek epic, it’s a tragedy, with choreographer Felipe Escalante highlighting the effects of domestic and structural violence within the story. To make the performance accessible to marginalized communities, .63 cent tickets are available to formerly incarcerated individuals and their families as well as survivors of gender-based violence.
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Runs September 29-October 1.
Proof of full vaccination and masks are required.
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Queens Theatre, 14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Corona, Queens
Runs September 30-October 2
Masks are optional but encouraged.
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Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Runs October 4-9. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Masks are required.
Cuba’s premiere modern dance company, Malpaso, brings its beautifully trained performers back to The Joyce for a weeklong run. The wide-ranging program features four pieces: woman with water by the highly successful though esoteric Swedish dance-maker Mats Ek; Stillness in Bloom, a commission from crowd-pleasing choreographer Aszure Barton; Robyn Mineko Williams’ Elemental and Nana Para un Insomnio (Lullaby for Insomnia), a solo by created by company member Dailedys Carrazana.
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BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street between Ashland and Rockwell Places in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Runs October 5-8.
Masks are optional but encouraged.
Choreographer Constanza Macras explores Romani culture in his dance-theatre extravaganza Open for Everything, an exuberant variation on old-world dance and music traditions. Three characters aspire to a brighter future, including a trans woman, a mother raising and her precocious daughter and an ambitious male dancer. Seventeen Roma performers join five members of Macras’ Berlin-based troupe DorkyPark for this celebration of humanity and hope that counters harmful stereotypes about the Romani people.
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BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Runs October 13-15.
Masks are optional but encouraged.
French choreographer Gisèle Vienne conjures the loopy energy of an underground EDM rave to explore the notion of losing oneself on the dancefloor. Using synchronized yet individualized bursts of movement, she plays with the audience’s sense of time across 15 intertwining tales, all danced to electronic artists who were big on the Detroit scene in the ’90s. Note: strobe light are used in the production.
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The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs October 14-30.
Masks are required.
Not a typical dance performance, this zany physical theatre piece brings the shenanigans of a crazed kitchen to life with Korean samul nori drumming and martial arts as four off-the-wall chefs race to prepare a last-minute wedding feast. This delectable concoction of athleticism, dance, tricks, percussion and food prep is celebrating its 25th anniversary, making it the longest-running show in South Korean history.
La MaMa’s The Downstairs, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Runs October 20-23.
Masks are required.
Kinding Sindaw celebrates its 30th anniversary with Posaka, an exploration of displacement, resilience and collective healing in Filipino culture. The company is made up of indigenous tradition-bearers and Filipino-American artists and educators who partner with local musicians, dancers and martial artists to perform healing chants, gong ringing and sensual movements.
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American Ballet Theatre: Fall Season
David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 62nd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
Runs October 20-30.
Masks are required.
ABT’s fall lineup includes a pair of beloved classics and an exciting new work. The returning fan favorites are Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, a glorious reimagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream set to the music of Mendelssohn and featuring Gillian Murphy as Titania (her only appearance this season), and resident choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s full-length confection Whipped Cream danced to Richard Strauss’ score. The world premiere Lifted choreographed by Christopher Rudd features an all-Black cast of dancers in celebration of Black creativity. This new ballet was specifically commissioned by ABT’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie, who is retiring in December after 30 years, and represents the company’s commitment to invest in powerful yet long-neglected and marginalized artists.
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Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Masks are required.
Runs October 25-30.
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Trajal Harrell: Maggie the Cat
NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in the West Village
Runs October 27-29. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Proof of full vaccination plus a booster dose and masks are required.
Acclaimed choreographer Trajal Harrell returns to New York with his dance interpretation of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but instead of focusing on Brick, he flips the story on its head by making Maggie the story’s true center. The provocative results unleash Maggie’s unbridled lust for power as Harrell infuses the proceedings with voguing, high fashion (there’s a catwalk, of course) and humor in this highbrow-pop-art hybrid.
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Unavailable Memory: In Conversation with Cunningham & Cage
Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs October 27-29.
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Juan Michael Porter II is the staff writer for TheBody.com and a contributor to TDF Stages, Did They Like It?, SF Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, American Theatre, them, Into More and SYFY Wire. He is a National Critics Institute and Poynter Power of Diverse Voices Fellow. Follow him at @juanmichaelii. Follow TDF at @ TDFNYC.
Juan Michael Porter II