15 Dance Performances to See in September
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DANCE NOW
Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in the East Village
Runs September 6-9
The eclectic DANCE NOW festival returns after a three-year hiatus with a new crop of five-minute pieces by veteran and emerging choreographers. This edition features two alternating programs which both include The Dandelion Project, a short documentary about how DANCE NOW artists coped during the pandemic shutdown.
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Runs September 6-10
Endlessly adventurous, Douglas Dunn—a veteran of Merce Cunningham’s company and the experimental Grand Union of the 1970s—presents an encore run of Garden Party, his well-received collaboration with visual artist Mimi Gross. A series of vignettes that fuse movement, visual art, music and poetry, the 10-dancer piece was described as “a dance you’d find in the middle of a Wes Anderson movie” by The New York Times. In other words, colorful and quirky.
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Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue at 10th Street in the East Village
Runs September 15-16. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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Heart of Brick
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Runs September 15-22. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Prolific, genre-defying choreographer Raja Feather Kelly (A Strange Loop, the feath3r theory) celebrates Black queer love in Heart of Brick, a multi-artist collaboration. R&B musician serpentwithfeet provides the score while multimedia artist Wu Tsang tackles the design of this evening-length work about two men who connect at a Black gay nightclub.
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Step Afrika!
NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in the West Village
Runs September 16-17. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
This invigorating troupe brings its signature blend of percussive, traditional African and contemporary dance to the Skirball for a two-night run. The five-piece program incorporates songs, storytelling and humor, plus lots of audience participation. An excellent introduction to dance for kids.
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New York City Ballet: Fall Season
David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
Runs September 19-October 15. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets to select performances.
New York City Ballet kicks off its 75th anniversary with a four-week fall season devoted entirely to the choreography of George Balanchine, who cofounded the company with Lincoln Kirstein. Following a weeklong run of his beloved 1967 three-act ballet Jewels, the lineup will offer a broad sampling of his enduring works, including Bourrée Fantasque (1949), an epic for 42 dancers which NYCB last performed almost 30 years ago. To mark the troupe’s founding three quarters of a century ago, the company will recreate its inaugural performance of Concerto Barocco, Orpheus and Symphony in C on October 11, the same date as its 1948 debut.
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Bijayini Satpathy: ABHIPSAA – A Seeking
Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Runs September 21-22
Bijayini Satpathy, an exquisite interpreter of Odissi from her many years with Nrityagram, branches out on her own with ABHIPSAA–A Seeking, four works that allow her to put her personal stamp on the Indian classical dance form she knows so well.
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New Chamber Ballet
Runs September 22-23
Miro Magloire and his elegant, unshowy New Chamber Ballet dancers consistently deliver refined classical works performed in the choreographer’s signature in-the-round style. This program includes recent pieces set to Ravel, Boulez and two contemporary composers, all featuring live musical accompaniment.
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Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street at Ninth Avenue in Midtown West
Runs September 23-24
The Indo-American Arts Council is behind this festival, which aims to expand awareness and appreciation of Indian dance forms. The first two days include appearances by renowned Bharatnatyam dancer Padma Shri Malavika Sarukkai along with workshops and lectures. Can’t make it in person? The final performance on September 25 is virtual and can be live-streamed for FREE on YouTube.
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Smaïl Kanouté: Never Twenty One
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues
Runs September 27
Smaïl Kanouté, a French-Malian dancer and graphic artist, choreographs and performs in this US premiere inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Co-presented by the Crossing the Line Festival and New York Live Arts, Never Twenty One commemorates young people of color lost to gun violence by focusing on three Black men killed in New York, Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro.
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BalletX
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
Runs September 27-October 1
Founded in 2005, this Philadelphia-based troupe has evolved into one of the most refreshing repertory companies in the country. For its return to the Joyce, BalletX performs two New York premieres—Honey by former Alvin Ailey resident choreographer Jamar Roberts, and Jennifer Archibald’s Exalt—along with Credo by company cofounder Matthew Neenan.
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New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Midtown West
Runs September 27-October 8
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VIM VIGOR: Punchline
Runs September 28-30
Gibney presents the New York premiere of Punchline by dance-theatre company VIM VIGOR featuring three dancers exploring the space between comedy and death. Shannon Gillen and Jason Cianciulli co-choreograph and costar in this amusing meditation on mortality with an electronica score by Marshall Chadbourne.
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92NY, 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street on the Upper East Side
Runs September 29
Tap genius Michelle Dorrance and her troupe kick off 92NY’s 150th year of dance with new works by company members Elizabeth Burke, Luke Hickey and Claudia Rahardjanoto alongside SOUNDspace, the groundbreaking movement-as-music piece that made the troupe’s reputation. Can’t make it in person? You can stream a recording of the performance September 30-October 3.
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Bala Devi Chandrashekar: Padmavati – An Avatar
Runs September 30
Bala Devi Chandrashekar, a leading exponent and scholar of the Bharatanatyam style of Indian classical dance, performs this solo inspired by the work of 12th-century poet Jayadeva. Subtitled “A Captivating Sensual Love Story,” it explores themes of romance and devotion.
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Top image: Annika Kuo from BalletX, which has a weeklong run at The Joyce Theater this month. Photo by Vandy Photography.
Susan Reiter covers dance for TDF Stages.