September 2023 Dance Calendar

Topping this month’s list of upcoming dance events is the Kenyan-born, France-based choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu’s “A disguised welcome…,” a solo exploration of the experience of displacement whithatch draws inspiration from experiences in Africa, North America, and Europe, offering a bitingly satirical look at the notions of center and periphery. 

Said Kamuyu, “Having lived on three different continents—Africa, North America and Europe—has provided me the privileged space and time to absorb diverse cultures and worldviews. The current critically sensitive (im)migration issue at the forefront of worldwide political debates has inspired me to re-examine my personal (im)migration stories and consequentially cultivated a desire to examine the notion of and politics surrounding the privileged vs. unprivileged (im)migrant.”  

Co-presented with Villa Albertine, performances will take place Sept. 22–23 at the Chocolate Factory Theater.  For more information, visit https://chocolatefactorytheater.org/wanjiru-kamuyu-2023/.

Also this month:

Sept. 6–9: DANCENOW returns after a three-year hiatus with live performances at Joe’s Pub. The host is “TruDee” (Deborah Lohse), and featured will be performances by Orlando Hernández, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Amber Sloan, TAKE Dance, BAIRA MVMNT PHLOSPHY/Shaina and Bryan Baira, binbinFactory/Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa, Tsiambwon M Akuchu, Megan Williams Dance Projects, doug elkins choreography, and more. 

For more information, visit https://publictheater.org/productions/joes-pub/2023/d/dance-now/ 

Sept. 9:  Dance on the Lawn: Montclair’s Dance Festival, NJ’s free outdoor dance festival, will return for its 10th and final year, celebrating New Jersey. The 2023 finale will include Nai-Ni Chen and Company, Maurice Chestnut, Alborada Dance Theater, Jason Samuels Smith, MeenMoves, and more. Also included in this year’s program will be the return of five—Robert Mark Burke, Kyle Marshall, Javier Padilla, Amber Sloan, and William Ervin—of the six winners of the yearly Dance on the Lawn “Emerging Commissioned NJ Choreographer” award. 

For more information, visit www.danceonthelawn.org. 

Sept. 14–15: DELIRIOUS Dances/Edisa Weeks and 651ARTS will present “3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness,” a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions, and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty, and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 

For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3-rites-life-tickets-704571370937?aff=odeimcmailchimp. 

Sept. 15–22: At the Joyce Theater, Experimental R&B musician serpentwithfeet, multimedia artist Wu Tsang, and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly join forces to tell the story of unpredictable romance and self-discovery in “Heart of Brick,” a theatrical dance and music production that ponders the spirit and magic of Black queer nightlife. 

For more information, visit https://www.joyce.org/performances/heartofbrick. 

Sept. 16–17: Step Afrika!, the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping, under Brian Williams, comes to NYU Skirball.  

For more information, visit https://nyuskirball.org/events/step-afrika/. 

Sept. 20–23: At TRISK, the “Black Black Black” Week—a gathering of dancers, choreographers, and multidisciplinary artists—will offer performances, live mural painting, an active photo booth, dominoes and card games, soul train lines, self-made oils, breathwork, and meditation. 

For more information, visit https://www.triskelionarts.org/beyond-the-black-box-2023.

Sept. 21–22: Baryshnikov Arts will present the New York premiere of “ABHIPSAA (a seeking)” by Odissi artist Bijayini Satpathy. 

For more information, visit https://baryshnikovarts.org/bijayini-satpathy.

Sept. 21–23: At JACK, The Dynamite Experience’s “In Lieu of the Option…” is a dance piece co-choreographed by Winston Dynamite Brown and Latra Ann Wilson that pairs electric dance with live jazz music. 

For more information, visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35022/production/1174336.

Sept. 22–23: Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet’s 2023-24 season features dances set to music by Maurice Ravel, Pierre Boulez, and contemporary composers Beat Furrer and Wong Foo Jeng as the troupe returns to the Mark Morris Dance Center. 

For more information, visit https://www.newchamberballet.com/.

Sept. 22: Roderick George’s premiere of “The Missing Fruit.” inspired by the recent Black Lives Matter protests, opens at Kaatsbaan. 

For more information, visit https://kaatsbaan.org/performances-festivals.

Sept. 23–25: The Indo-American Arts Council announces the “Erasing Borders” dance festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, plus a virtual presentation featuring Padma Shri Malavika Sarukkai, along with a lecture and a workshop event. 

For more information, visit https://iaac.us/dance/. 

Sept. 27: At Florence Gould Hall, Smaïl Kanouté’s “Never Twenty One,” inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, “…pays tribute to young people of color who have lost their lives to gun violence all over the world before reaching the age of 21,” according to a press release. This work is presented by FIAF in partnership with New York Live Arts and as part of Crossing The Line Festival. 

For more information, visit https://fiaf.org/event/2023-09-kanoute/.

Sept. 27–Oct. 8: The 20th Fall for Dance Festival returns with several diverse programs: Ballet BC, Caleb Teicher, Gibney Company, Côté Danse, Sara Mearns, Madrid’s Sergio Bernal Dance Company, Adesola Osakalumi, Hawaiian hula halau Kaleoolakaikahikinaokalā, and much more. For more information, visit https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/FallforDance/.