Featured this month is “SCAT!…The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar,” conceived, directed and co choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Urban Bush Women, the dance company begun by Zollar in 1984 to “…amplify underrepresented voices and unheard stories of Black Women+, continues their 40th anniversary season with the 2025 NYC premiere of SCAT!… Through song, dance, and storytelling, Urban Bush Women tell the powerful love story of two people making their way through the Great Migration, inspired by Zollar’s childhood in Kansas City’s Black neighborhoods,” according to the release. Rounding out the list of creators is composer Craig Harris, co-choreographer Vincent E. Thomas, dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks, assistant director & associate producer Cheri Stokes, as well as dancers from Urban Bush Women and the cast of singers and musicians. The “…dance-driven, jazz fueled experience about dreams colliding with the realities of American life in the ‘40s and ‘50s,” will run from Feb. 5-8 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. For more information visit https://pacnyc.org/whats-on/scat-the-complex-lives-of-al-dot-dot-al-zollar/
ALSO THIS MONTH:
Feb. 1-2: Celebrating the coming of Spring 2025 and the Year of The Snake, at NJPAC, Nai-Ni Chen Dance continues their Newark tradition for over two decades, with dance, acrobatics and music to invoke the spirit of the snake. For more information visit www.njpac.org.
Feb. 2: Maleek Washington will be at the 92nd Street Y as part of drummer/composer Allison Miller’s immersive multimedia work “Rivers in Our Veins.” Also on the program is Michelle Dorrance, Claudia Rahardjanoto, and Luke Hickey. For more information visit www.92ny.org.
Related: January 2025 Dance Calendar
Feb. 5-9: Camille A. Brown & Dancers returns to the Joyce Theater with “I AM.” expanding Brown’s trilogy: “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” (2012), “BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play” (2015), and “ink” (2017) that “…disrupt our understanding of the past, while ‘I AM’ shifts the scope of her bold queries into the future. Inspired by a narrative within the drama television series ‘Lovecraft Country,’ Brown imagines a creative space for cultural liberation,” notes the release. For more information visit www.joyce.org.
Feb. 6-8: As part of “Edges of Ailey” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peter Born with collaborators Bria Bacon, Katrina Reid, Kris Lee and Okpokwasili will be performing in “let slip, hold sway.” For more information and to rsvp, visit whitney.org.
Feb. 12-16: Also returning to the Joyce is Akram Khan with “Gigenis: the generation of the Earth.” Through his own lineage of classical Indian Kathak and contemporary dance, Khan shares the stage with an ensemble of classical Indian dance artists. For more information visit www.joyce.org.
Feb. 13-14: For the annual SoloDuo Dance Festival under White Wave’s artistic director, Young Soon Kim, featured will be national and international companies, including Limon 2, Beijing Dance Academy, Take Root, Ellexis Hatch, Jin-Wen Yu Dance, ALA Dance, Company E, Inc., Moremeant dance theater Israel, TheCo and many more. The performances will happen at Dixon Place. For more information visit whitewavedance.networkforgood.com.
Feb. 14-15: Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet will be at the Mark Morris Dance Center, with the world premieres of Magloire’s “Vox” and “The Distance Between Bones” to live piano and violin, by composers Ya-Lan Chan and Elizabeth Gartman. For more information visit https://ncb-vox2025.eventbrite.com.
Feb. 24: New York City Center (Studio 5) continues their annual Black History Month | Street Dance Edition celebration with Ephrat Asherie and Adesola Osakalumi. For more information visit www.nycitycenter.org.
Feb. 25-Mar. 9: Led by Buenos Aires tango dancers Germán Cornejo and Gisela Galeassi, the Joyce will present “Tango After Dark, an event “…that fuses the rich traditions of tango with a contemporary flair,” by creator and choreographer Cornejo. For more information visit www.joyce.org.