dance

Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful. Just the title of choreographer Kyle Abraham’s most recent dance seen at NYC’s Armory on Park Avenue on December 9 is gripping. A glorious sweep of a dance that moves through the seasons (a metaphor for time passing) as depicted in the spectacular, ever morphing set is expressed with delicacy, power and nuance by a man facing mortality. Abraham writes in the program, “My words and thoughts stammer where they used to sing. I dance in remembrance of the innocence in of my younger self.”

Now in its 22nd consecutive season, the witty, irreverent and raucous Nut/Cracked will be presented by The Bang Group at Kaatsbaan, in Tivoli, N,Y,, on December 20 and 21. As the Cultural Center’s holiday offering, there is a reason why this 65-minute reimagined Nutcracker has entertained countless numbers of delighted patrons: it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Le sacre de Lila (2022), its U.S. premiere on September 29 at PS21 in Chatham, NY, is a contemporary dance based on the traditional Lila healing ritual of the Maghreb, an area that spans several North African countries. Moroccan-French-Quebecois choreographer, Ismaël Mouaraki explores trance through song, dance and music.

This week at the Catskill Mountain Foundation through a Guggenheim Works & Process LaunchPad tech-residency, the Martha Graham Dance Company performs a preview of choreographers Baye & Asa’s Cortege, inspired by Martha Graham’s Cortege of Eagles from 1967, at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville, NY.

The three-week Kaatsbaan Cultural Park 2024 Annual Festival in Tivoli, NY, opens this Friday with the September 13 screening of Merce/Misha/More directed by Daniel Madoff. The film features choreographer Merce Cunningham, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Mikhail Baryshnikov, the ballet star and impresario, in conversation and in dancing.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center welcomes the New York City Ballet this week. The season features four unique programs from tonight -July 13th as part of NYCB’s historic 75thanniversary and its 58th season in Saratoga. We welcome New York City Ballet Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford with a preview.

This week kicks off the 92nd season of Jacob’s Pillow – the premier international dance festival, in a 9-week celebration of some of today’s most groundbreaking artists and dance companies performing locally, nationally, and around the world. Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge joins us for a preview.

“I don’t like dance,” says this choreographer, “but we saw the bull riders at Madison Square Garden and, boy, I really wanted to get on that bull.” Her combination of disdain and desire results in an exciting and surprising dance.

Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 concept album “Illinois” enjoys cult status for its lush orchestrations and inventive lyrics. Tony Award-winner and Resident Choreographer of the New York City Ballet, Justin Peck, has transformed the album, with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of 2018’s “Fairview” Jackie Sibblies Drury, into a full-length theatrical performance that blends dance, theater, live music and storytelling into a breathtakingly emotional coming-of-age journey. “Illinoise” was presented at the Bard Fisher Center in summer of 2023 as a SummerScape commission. The Bard staging and the off-Broadway production at Park Avenue Armory earlier this year were sold out, highly praised, and “Illinoise” transferred to the St. James Theatre on Broadway this month. Opening night was April 24 and the limited engagement is scheduled to end on August 10. This morning, it was announced that “Illinoise” has been nominated for 4 Tony Awards.

Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective, the esteemed street dance company founded by Michele Byrd-McPhee in 2004, presented The Black Dancing Bodies Project: SpeakMyMind at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville on March 30 direct from its premiere at Works & Process, the performing arts series affiliated with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Works & Process supported the Ladies of Hip Hop with five LaunchPAD residencies. The Catskill Mountain Foundation partners with Works & Process.