BAM’s annual DanceAfrica festival returns for the 47th year with “The Origin of Communities/A Calabash of Cultures,” celebrating the traditions and contemporary innovations of dance from Cameroon, affectionately known as “Little Africa.” DanceAfrica 2024 invites the community to experience a multi-faceted exploration of dance, music, film, and art. DanceAfrica 2024 performances, under artistic director Abdel R. Salaam, will include offerings from the Cameroonian dance company Cie La Calebasse, founded by choreographer and dancer Merlin Nyakam, DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers, Women of the Calabash, and the Billie Holiday Theatre’s Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble.
For more information, visit https://www.bam.org/danceafrica24.
STILL RUNNING:
Through May 7 (virtual): ALL ARTS’ 2024, “Past, Present, Future Dance Film Festival,” premieres films by Ayodele Casel, Raja Feather Kelly, and Katy Pyle. The annual initiative features newly commissioned films in which dance artists partner with filmmakers to explore the past, present, and future of their work.
For more information, visit https://www.allarts.org/2024/03/past-present-future-announcement/.
ALSO THIS MONTH:
May 2–June 8: Kyle Abraham, choreographer, performer, and artistic director of A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, curates the Danspace Project’s 16th Platform, “Platform 2024: A Delicate Ritual.” The series of performances reflects Abraham’s interest in each performers’ rituals, desires, and artistic exchanges. Featured will be new work by Nicholas Ryan Gant + Shamel Pitts (May 2–4), intergenerational evenings of performance with David Roussève + taisha paggett (May 23–25), and Vinson Fraley + Bebe Miller (June 6–8).
For more information, visit https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/
May 5: The 11th CrossCurrent Dance Festival, in collaboration with Flushing Town Hall, will present the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Lenora Lee Dance, and New Asia Chamber Music Society.
For more information, visit https://www.flushingtownhall.org/event-detail.php?id=608.
May 10–11: The Japan Society closes their contemporary dance program, “Beyond Ballet, Beyond Hip-Hop,” with the North American premiere of “Dying Swan & Its Cause of Death” by Japanese prima ballerina Hana Sakai and cellist Udai Shika.
For more information, visit https://japansociety.org/performing-arts/.
May 10 & 12: The World Music Institute and Asia Society New York present “Dancing the Gods 2024: Festival of Indian Dance” at the Asia Society, with performances by Kasi Aysola & Archana Raja and Rama Vaidyanathan, curated by Rajika Puri.
For more information, visit https://asevents.eventive.org/schedule/65d4fae436e55f006eb9a964.
May 10–12: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to NJPAC with Amy Hall Garner’s “CENTURY”; Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish’s “Me, Myself and You”; and Alonzo King’s “Following the Subtle Current Upstream.” In celebration of Max Roach’s centennial, the company will also perform “Survivors,” a 1986 work set to Roach’s drumming and Abbey Lincoln’s vocals. Each performance ends with Ailey’s signature masterpiece, “Revelations.”
For more information, visit https://www.njpac.org/event/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater-2/.
May 10–25: “S A T U R N: A Revelation,” conceived by j. bouey, is “an immersive dance performance installation, direct action for community support, and multi-camera live broadcast…[that] introduces the Inter-Dimensional Time-Traveling Disco Space Opera Dance Band,” the Living Ancestors, according to the release. George Del Barrio is the designer.
For more information, visit https://www.jackny.org/s-a-t-u-r-n-a-revelation.
May 11: The Boogie Down Dance Compilation returns to BAAD!, with eight NYC choreographers taking the stage with original dance performances.
For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boogie-down-dance-compilation-tickets-883638936847?aff=oddtdtcreator.
May 11–12: The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will launch its 36th anniversary season at Hostos Center for Arts and Culture, celebrating the 2024 Asian American Pacific Islanders Heritage Month. Highlights include “Betwixt and Between” by Jacek Luminski and Peiju Chien-Pott, “Reincarnation” by Aloe Ao Liu, and “Carousel Divertimento for 7 dancers” by Chen.
For more information, visit https://mpv.tickets.com/schedule/?agency=HCAV_PL_MPV&orgid=56451#/?view=list&includePackages=true.
May 16–17: Under artistic director Dante Puleio and in collaboration with the City College Center for the Arts, the Limón Dance Company and Limón2 come together at Aaron Davis Hall for “Experience the Legacy: Limón Dance Company,”—three works by Limón: “Missa Brevis,” “The Exiles,” and “There is a Time.”
For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/limon-dance-company-tickets-859124242737?aff=oddtdtcreator.
May 16–18: Sidra Bell Dance New York and saxophonist, composer, and arranger Immanuel Wilkins Quartet will offer the world premiere “COMMUNION” at Gibney. “This elegiac experience is a series of impressions, human huddles, and hybrid forms of movement set against a wild mixture of textures, design, and sound,” according to the release.
For more information, visit https://gibneydance.org/event/gibney-presents-sidra-bell-dance-new-york/2024-05-16/
May 16-Jun. 2: The 19th La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, curated by Nicky Paraiso, will present new and recent works by 11 choreographers and companies with diverse creative practices and approaches to performance. Featured will be Arthur Avilés, Yoshiko Chuma with Dennis O’Connor and composer Dane Terry, Dancers Unlimited, Emerging Choreographers/Hunter College MFA Dance Program, Anabella Lenzu, NUU Knynez, Koma Otake, Ilaria Passeri and Evelyna Dann with composer Stefano Zazzera, the Pioneers Go East Collective, John Scott, and Chris Yon & Taryn Griggs.
For more information, visit https://www.lamama.org/.
May 17–18: As part of Harlem Stage’s 40th anniversary celebration, the signature series E-Moves will bring back nora chipaumire with “ShebeenDUB,” “…which transforms the historic Harlem Stage Gatehouse into a sonic and visual statement of radical Black indictment of Empire. Featuring the monumental afternow sound installation, including the soundshitsystem, designed by Ari Marcopoulos and Kara Walker and constructed by Matt Jackson Studio, the evening unfolds in three parts,” according to the release.
For more information, visit https://www.harlemstage.org/emoves-dance-series.
May 18: As part of the BAAD! “Boogie Down Dance Series,” Alethea Pace presents “between wave and water,” a site-specific multimedia performance walk rooted in reclaiming the history of an African Burial Ground in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx.
For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/between-wave-and-water-tickets-884234879327?aff=oddtdtcreator.
May 18: “Harlem Mouse/Country Mouse,” a retelling of Aesop’s fable “City Mouse and Country Mouse,” brings Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) together with students from the school, under the direction of DTH artistic director Robert Garland, and Tai Jimenez, director of the DTH School.
For more information, visit https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/harlemmouse/.
May 21: For the “OPEN AiR” series at CPR, Malcolm-x Betts will present an hour-long solo about Black queer love entitled “what happens when things become undone?”
For more information, go to www.cprnyc.org/events/open-air-malcolm-x-betts.
May 22: Sara Michelson will curate an evening with Oren Barnoy, Dominica Greene, Seta Morton, and Stevfni.XYZ for CPR’s “OPEN STUDIO” series, which offers artists a place to experiment with new work and work in development in an informal setting. For more information, visit www.cprnyc.org/events/open-studios-curated-by-sarah-michelson.