This month’s calendar brings four April staples: Ailey II (April 2-13); Harlem Stage’s “EMoves” (April 4-5 & 11-12); Ballet Hispanico (April 15-27); and Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) (April 23-27).
Celebrating its 40th anniversary season and the second season led by artistic director Troy Powell, Ailey II returns for two weeks to its home, the Ailey Citicorp Theater. Premieres include “Alchemies” by Adam Barruch, “Cuore Sott’olio” (“Heart Submerged in Oil”) by Katarzyna Skarpetowska and “Wings” by Jennifer Archibald. The returning works are Alvin Ailey’s “Streams” (1970), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle’s “We” (2010), Benoit Swan Pouffer’s “Rusty” (2012) and Amy Hall Garner’s “Virtues” (2012). For more information, visit www.alvinailey.org.
“EMoves” returns for the 15th year with a twist—a “dance battle” hosted by MCs Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune, Ana “Rokafella” Garcia and Robin Dunn. As always, each evening will also showcase premiere works by “E-merging choreographers” (Maria Bauman, Rashida Bumbray, Rie Fukuzawa, Desiree Godsell, Damani Pompey and Christopher Rudd) and “E-volving choreographers” (David Fernandez and Stefanie Batten Bland). For more information, visit www.harlemstage.org.
Celebrating his fourth year as artistic director, Eduardo Vilaro curates another season of varied ballets for Ballet Hispanico’s season at the Joyce Theatre. Slated for the season are premieres “El Beso” by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, “Sombrerísimo” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, “Umbral” by Edgar Zendejas and Vilaro’s “Hogar.” Rounding out the program will be the Joyce premiere of Edwaard Liang’s “A Verme,” plus the return of Nacho Duato’s “Jardi Tancat” and repertory works by Vilaro and Lopez Ochoa. For more information, visit www.joyce.org.
Returning to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall for its second season and celebrating its 45th anniversary, DTH brings the premiere of “past-carry-forward” by Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman Davis and “Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven” (1993) by Ulysses Dove. The New York premiere is the classic “Pas de Dix From Raymonda” by Marius Petipa, originally staged for DTH by Frederick Franklin. Returning are Robert Garland’s “New Bach,” “Gloria” and “Return,” plus Donald Byrd’s “Contested Space” and the “Black Swan Pas de Deux,” restaged by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa and Nicholas Sergeyev. For more information, visit www.jalc.org.
Also this month
April 4-5: Saúl Ulerio, as part of the “Studio Series” at New York Live Arts, appears in “transcendental preparatory exercise no. 6” “while in a vigil through pastoral antiquity, so the forest trembles,” a work about “rhythm, harmony and destruction, ‘transcendental preparatory’ … represents a return to the history of theater, revisiting its dramaturgical evolution from Greek Drama to Wagner’s operas,” according to the release. For more information, visit www.newyorklivearts.org.
April 8-12: American Tap Dance Foundation’s Rhythm in Motion presents a combination of dancers and choreographers that show the range of tap in 10 performances at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. Featured performers and choreographers are Michelle Dorrance, Brenda Bufalino, Derick K Grant, Cartier Williams, Chloe Arnold, Lisa La Touche, Jason Samuels Smith, Nicholas Young and more. For more information, visit www.atdf.org.
April 25: Arthur Aviles, James Waring and Aileen Passloff are guests for “Dance Lineage,” part of the 92nd Street Y’s “Fridays at Noon” series. They will share their histories and knowledge about passing on information on dance. Tickets to this event are free, and the event is now being streamed live. For more information, visit www.92y.org.
April 29-May 3: The Limón Dance Company returns to the Joyce Theatre for one week with two world premieres and two Limón masterworks. Premieres are a solo for Roxane D’Orleans Juste, honoring her 30-year tenure by dance legend Dianne McIntyre, and a full company work by Seán Curran in collaboration with composers Lucia Caruso and Pedro H. da Silva. Repertory works are Limón’s “Mazurkas” and “Psalm.” For more information, visit www.joyce.org.