Garth Fagan Dance, the Rochester-based company known for its signature electrifying fusion of dance forms that includes Afro-Caribbean, modern, post-modern, and ballet, brings its critically acclaimed display of soul, rhythm, and rousing energy to the Joyce Theatre Nov. 4-8 for its 55th season.
The company was founded by the Jamaican-born choreographer Garth Fagan, who has been hailed as “a trailblazer,” “a wizard,” and “one of the great reformers of modern dance” and has been showered with honors including the 2025 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement for his talented company and his stunningly imaginative, Tony Award-winning choreography for Disney’s hit Broadway musical “The Lion King.” Fagan has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and Jamaica’s Order of Distinction. The company has toured the U.S. and the world for more than 55 years and remains one of Rochester’s most enduring cultural institutions.
What began decades ago as the humbly named “Bottom of the Bucket, BUT,” evolved into the Garth Fagan Dance company with work that has been featured not only in that company, but has also been performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, José Limón Dance Company, and New York City Ballet, among other leading companies. He also choreographed a production of Duke Ellington’s only opera, “Queenie Pie,” at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Fagan’s choreography defies classification, with works ranging from his legendary celebration of African culture “The Lion King” to a haunting portrait of urban life “Griot New York”; from a stunning demonstration of technical prowess “Prelude: Discipline is Freedom” to a series of sensuous duets “Until, By & If I & II”; and from a moving depiction of fortitude and struggle “Oatka Trail” to a joyous eruption of movement and sound “Woza”. The music he explores in his dances represents an eclectic blend of jazz, African, modern, and classical traditions.
Now, Garth Fagan Dance is bringing its stylistically distinctive performances to a Joyce season that includes Fagan’s seminal “Prelude: Discipline is Freedom,” which showcases young and seasoned dancers alike, and the evocative 1985 “Never Top 40 (Jukebox),” set to music ranging from Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” to Keith Jarrett’s rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” returning to New York City for the first time since 2001. Expanding the company’s bold artistic vision, Fagan has now handed the reins over to two veterans — Artistic Director Norwood “PJ” Pennewell and Natalie Rogers-Cropper — whom he has called his “muses.” Pennewell and Rogers-Cropper recently spoke to the AmNews about the dance company they’re bringing to the Joyce Theater, describing it as one brimming with youthful vigor and talent that includes young dancers fresh from Trinidad-Tobago and Barbados, as well as alumnae of the Ailey/Fordham dance program, and the University of the Arts from Philly.
The entire company of dancers are all under 30 years of age, with the youngest being 19-year-old Jahkim Hodge-Price. The “old-timer” who has been with the company the longest (4 years) is young Sabrina Shiman. Their newest dancer is Larry White Jr., a veteran of 1 month. The other dancers are Kiara Haywood (Principal), Daria Clarke (Principal), Janalyce Lane, Raea Moorehead, Charlie Curran, Anderson Lewis, and Kemal Marshall.
All will perform a program built around the uplifting themes of hope and optimism. Describing the program’s two New York premieres, Pennewell said his work, “Priestess Hill,” is set to Philip Glass’s “Days and Nights in Rocinha.”
“It is the result of a commission from the Rochester Philharmonic Dance Festival in January of this year,” Pennewell said, adding that it captures the nuances of a work by Glass’s music that was inspired by the composer’s visits to Brazil’s favelas and the “outburst of creative energy” he experienced watching folks there prepare for Carnival. Rogers-Cropper’s work is her second piece for Garth Fagan Dance. “Messages To The Storm,” she says, was inspired by poet Maya Angelou’s line “every storm runs out of rain,” and is a response to the “storm we find ourselves dealing with now. Crafted with today’s social media technology in mind, the dance is in the form of three separate text messages that Rogers-Cropper says all carry one clear message in this time of uncertainty: “commenting on humanity saying that no matter what you do we will always bounce back.” She adds, with more than a touch of optimism, “Our art form creates a place where a person can be invigorated.” Therefore, in the final analysis, “It’s exhilarating — it leaves you willing to go through life, to face adversity with beauty and creation.”
Garth Fagan Dance grew out of the imagination of a man who, as Pennewell explains, wanted to create a company that reflected an energy and creativity that at that time “he wasn’t seeing on stages.” Now, Fagan has trusted “his muses” to take over. “Now, the buck stops with us,” Pennewell adds. “And, we have to make decisions that we believe Garth would want. He knew that we would do what we think is necessary while still maintaining the integrity of the organization he created. I try to big-up Natalie every chance I get, and whatever decisions are made we always check with each other.”
Natalie adds, “I know this is Garth Fagan’s legacy and we take that very seriously … We got him. We got a lot of who he was, what he feels, and that is always in our head and in our heart when we do anything. Honestly, there is so much material that Garth instilled in PJ and I that it is a great honor that he has passed that torch on to us. Now it’s up to us to continue on with the legacy. It’s an awesome responsibility.”
