For nearly one year now, Kyle Marshall and dancers Oluwadamilare Ayorinde and Myssi Robinson have been in deep research, making his first full-evening work, “Colored.” Marshall notes, “Colored” “… honors the dark twisted beauty of Blackness while demonstrating the inherent struggle in abstracting the Black dancing form.” To that end, the work traverses many terrains to find answers asked of each dancer. “Colored” is commissioned in part by Dance on the Lawn: Montclair’s Dance Festival, EMoves Harlem Stage and Jersey (New) Moves Dance Festival at New Jersey Performing Arts Center and features original music and decor by Matt Clegg. “Colored” runs June 2 to June 3 at the Actors Fund Arts Center. There will be a brief Q&A with the artists after Friday’s performance. For more information, visit www.kmchoreography.com.
June 8-11—Curated by New Dance Alliance Founder and Director Karen Bernard, the 31st annual Performance Mix Festival returns and will feature works by 20 local and international dance artists, as well as Performance Mix’s annual community breakfast, a dance party and more at University Settlement. The impressive lineup includes Julian Barnett and Jocelyn Tobias, Barbie Diewald, Julio Ulises Medina, Angie Pitman, Sônia Lopes Soares, Melanie Greene and so many more. For more information, visit www.newdancealliance.org.
June 10-11—Choreographer Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet closes its 2016-17 series with Magloire’s premiere to John Cage’s “Cheap Imitation” for violin, plus repertory works “Mozart,” “Friction” and “Leise, Leise” (“Softly, Softly”). For more information, visit www.newchamberballet.com
June 14-18—Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Lincoln Center beginning June 14 with the Musical Inspirations program featuring the premiere of Robert Battle’s “Mass,” plus Battle’s “Ella” (2016) and the 2016 new production of Billy Wilson’s “The Winter in Lisbon.” June 15, The Ailey Spirit Gala benefit honoring Board Vice Chairman Stephen Meringoff raises funds to support scholarships for students of The Ailey School and Ailey’s Arts in Education & Community Programs. June 16 the Global Voices program features Mauro Bigonzetti’s “Deep,” Johan Inger’s “Walking Mad” and Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro.” The Bold Visions program June 17 features Ailey dancer Hope Boykin’s “r-Evolution, Dream” and Kyle Abraham’s “Untitled America.” Some programs repeat. For more information, visit www.alvinailey.org.
June 14-25—The always free River to River Festival, which runs across Lower Manhattan and Governors Island, boasts a lineup of works by Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey, Faye Driscoll, Marjani Forté-Saunders, Beth Gill, Maria Hassabi, Jodi Melnick, Netta Yerushalmy, Will Rawls and many more. For more information, visit www.lmcc.net.
June 15-18—Amy Jordan’s Victory Dance Project celebrates their third anniversary honoring Chita Rivera with the Woman of Valor Award, and will host special performances from Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance company. For more information, visit www.victorydance.org.
June 16-18—The Dance Caribbean COLLECTIVE, in honor of Caribbean-American Heritage Month, presents works and performances by local Caribbean choreographers, including Shermica Farquhar, Safi Harriott, Maxine Montilus, Candace Thompson and many more. For more information, visit www.dancecaribbeancollective.org.
June 16- 30—Bryant Park Presents Contemporary Dance returns with modern dance curated by Tiffany Rea-Fisher and ballet curated by Donna Salgador. The lineup includes David Fernandez’s Some Dance Company, Da’ Von Doane & Artists of the Shift and more (June 16); Martha Graham Dance Company, Kinetic Architecture Dance Theatre and more (June 23); and CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet, Island Moving Company and Thomas/Ortiz Dance (June 30). For more information, visit www.bryantpark.org.
June 21-24—EXPLODE! queer dance, the four-day festival of performances and conversation, curated by dance scholar Clare Croft at JACK, will include works and conversation with Jennifer Monson, DD Dorvillier, Thomas DeFrantz, Jennifer Harge, Nic Gareiss & Cleek Schrey and Post Natyam Ensemble. The host is Boston-based desi drag queen LaWhore Vagistan. For more information, visit www.jackny.org.
June 22- 24—As part of the LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts series, Raja Feather Kelly and his company, the feath3r theory, will premiere “Another Fucking Warhol Production, or Who’s Afraid of Andy Warhol?” described by Kelly as “a docufiction performance.” For more information, visit www.thelumberyard.org.
June 22- 24—At the Martha Graham Studio Theater, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will present the New York Premiere of Chen’s “CrossCurrent,” “a collection of new works created on her journey as an immigrant artist attempting to reconcile the two cultures inside her,” according to the release. For more information, visit www.nainichen.org.
June 28- July 2—Also part of the LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts series, Kyle Abraham and his company, Abraham.In.Motion, will premiere “Dearest Home,” which “consists primarily of solos and duets generated in conversation and collaboration with a variety of age groups and self-identified subcultures,” according to the release. For more information, visit www.thelumberyard.org.
June 30—For one-night-only, and celebrating their 45th season, Garth Fagan Dance brings their blend of modern ballet, Afro-Caribbean and social dance to Prospect Park as part of BRIC’s Celebrate Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.BRICartsmedia.org.