Two ballet companies will again share their season of dance: Ballet Hispánico (April 10-April 15) at the Joyce Theater and Dance Theatre of Harlem (April 4-April7) at New York City Center.
Called the nation’s premier Latino dance organization, Ballet Hispánico returns to the Joyce Theater with a program inspired by Spanish literary icon Federico Garcia Lorca. Choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano’s yet-to-be-named world premiere will delve “into the life of the celebrated playwright during his time in New York City in 1929,” and Carlos Pons Guerra will “reimagine Lorca’s 1936 play, ‘The House of Bernanda Alba,’ infusing the tale of family intrigue with the theatricality of Spanish language films and telenovelas,” notes the release. Also on the program is Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s 2016 work, “Línea Recta.” For more information, visit www.joyce.org.
In four performances only, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s season will offer a mixed bill, including the company premieres of George Balanchine’s “Valse-Fantaisie” (1953) and Christopher Wheeldon’s “This Bitter Earth” (2012). Also on the program is the company revival of Geoffrey Holder’s classic, “Dougla” (1974), which will include live music and dancers from Collage Dance Collective, plus Marius Petipa’s “Le Corsaire Pas de Deux” (1856). The company rounds out the program with the New York premiere of contemporary choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie’s “Harlem on My Mind.” The 2018 season opens April 4, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with the annual Vision Gala. This year’s honorees are dance legend Carmen de Lavallade and civil rights icon Xernona Clayton. Works by resident choreographer Robert Garland and Dianne McIntyre (“Change”) are slated for the April 4 event. For more information, visit www.nycitycenter.org.
STILL RUNNING
March 29-March 31—Philly choreographer/performer Annie Wilson returns to JACK with “At Home with the Humorless Bastard,” “an exploration of personal and collective grief that shifts the audience’s perspective by bringing them onstage and casting them in the dance,” notes the release. For more information,
visit www.jackny.org.
March 29—For one-night-only, Polly Ferman’s “GlamourTango” comes to Aaron Davis Hall as City College Center for the Arts in “A Celebration of Women in Tango.” For more information, visit www.citycollegecenterforthearts.org.
ALSO THIS MONTH
April 2-April 23—The free, ongoing Movement Research at the Judson Church performances will feature Maira Duarte/Dance to the People, Paty Solórzano and Sônia Lopes Soares (April 2); Maleek Washington, Kyungmi Kim and Kayla Farrish/Decent Structures Arts (April 9); Javier Padilla’s The Movement Playground, Nicky Paraiso, Katie Workum and Andrea Haenggi (April 16); and Maho Ogawa, Juila Gladstone, The Olimpias and Lisa Parra (April 23). For more information,
visit www.movementresearch.org.
April 4—Harlem Stage hosts “Ascension: A Lifting of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy on the 50th Anniversary of His Assassination,” featuring dances by Kyle Marshall and others. For more information visit www.harlemstage.org.
April 6-April 7—Miro Magloire and his New Chamber Ballet returns to City Center Studio 5 and will pay homage to the composer Claude Debussy on this 100th anniversary with a world premiere by resident choreographer Constantine Baecher. Also on the program is Magloire’s “Two Friends,” plus other works by Magloire. For more information, visit www.newchamberballet.com.
April 6-April 7—The Billie Holiday Theatre presents Gesel Mason’s “No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers” in “the last live performance” of the project, featuring solos by Mason, Donald McKayle, David Roussève, Bebe Miller, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Rennie Harris and a recently commissioned work by Kyle Abraham. For more information, visit
www.651arts.org.
April 7 – In two performances, for one-day-only, Davalois Fearon Dance Company will premiere the commissioned work, As Above, As Below, “…a site-specific choreography created in dialogue with Gordon Matta-Clark’s 1971 performance Tree Dance, as well as the inclusion of alchemic philosophy in both artists’ practice,” at Bronx Museum of the Arts, according to the release. For more information visit www.bronxmuseum.org April 10-April 28—At Gibney and curated by Marýa Wethers, “Gathering Place: Black Queer Land(ing)” “… invites intersections and crossroads among Blackness, queerness and indigeneity,” notes the release. Featured will be works by mayfield brooks (April 10-April 14), jumatatu m. poe (April 19-April 21) and I Moving Lab (April 26-April 28). For more information,
visit www.gibneydance.org.
April 11—Raja Feather Kelly’s the feath3r theory will premiere site-specific performances as part of the new dance series “Suspending Time” at the Rubin Museum of Art, presented in partnership with Pentacle. Feather Kelly has created a work connected to the Rubin’s exhibitions and 2018 theme, “The Future.” Four 20 minute performances throughout the evening will take place in a different gallery within the museum. For more information, visit www.bubinmuseum.org.
April 12 and April 14—Fadi J. Khoury and his company, FJK Dance, brings three new works, including Khoury’s multimedia performance and art installation “UnTold,” “…where ancient Middle Eastern aesthetics are reimagined for the present by layering contemporary ballet and ballroom movements with sculptures and graphic designs,” notes the release. Also on the program of “Works in Progress” are works by guest choreographers Gary Pierce and Debbie Roshe. For more information, visit www.fjkdance.com.
April 15 and April 22—The ineffable Ishmael Houston-Jones curates two separate shared evenings for the ongoing series “Sundays on Broadway” under Cathy Weis Projects. The artists are Justin Cabrillos, Samuel Hanson and Adrienne Truscott (April 15) and Laurie Berg with Bessie McDonough-Thayer, Jessica Pretty and Emily Wexler (April 22). For more information, visit www.cathyweis.org.
April 18—nora chipaumire will premiere site-specific performances as part of the new dance series “Suspending Time” at the Rubin Museum of Art, presented in partnership with Pentacle. chipaumire has created a work connected to the Rubin’s exhibitions and 2018 theme, “The Future.” Four 20 minute performances throughout the evening will take place in a different gallery within the museum. For more information, visit
www.bubinmuseum.org.
April 21-April 22—As part of World Music Institute’s fifth annual Dancing the Gods Festival at Symphony Space, slated are performances by Amrita Lahiri and The Dancing Monks of Assam & Sattriya. For more information, visit www.worldmusicinstitute.org.
April 28-April 29—Deeply Rooted Dance Theater returns to New York at BAM/Fisher, with the New York premiere of the evening-length work “Indumba” (“‘African healing hut,’ promising a work of stirring resilience and reconciliation”) by South African choreographer Fana Tshabalal. Originally created “… to illuminate the perpetual impact of unresolved apartheid politics in his native South Africa,” Tshabalala, artistic director of Broken Borders Arts Project, adapted “Indumba” for an American audience. DRDT’s co-founder and Artistic Director Kevin Iega Jeff, founded his first company, JUBILATION! Dance Company, in New York City in 1982. “Indumba” premiered in December 2017 as part DRDT’s 20th anniversary in their home, Chicago. For more information, visit www.bam.org.