13 Dance Performances to See in September—Three Are FREE
Catch New York City Ballet, Fall for Dance, a new Bill T. Jones piece and more
New York’s fall dance season kicks off with a few annual favorites, including New York City Ballet returning to Lincoln Center and New York City Center’s beloved Fall for Dance Festival. There are even some FREE alfresco dance picks, including a world premiere by Bill T. Jones.
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Buglisi Dance Theatre: Table of Silence Project 9/11
Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, enter at 64th Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
September 11. FREE
Fifteen years ago, Lincoln Center commissioned master choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi and artist Rossella Vasta to create a prayer of healing for the world. The result was Table of Silence Project 9/11, which honors the victims and survivors of the September 11 attacks. A highlight of Buglisi’s vision is watching 150 dancers create 12 sacred symbols with their bodies across Lincoln Center’s plaza. The inaugural performance was so embraced, it was immediately adopted by Lincoln Center as an annual peace offering. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Buglisi has added her brilliant rendering of Fauré’s Requiem as an opener, a piece featuring elevated women bending the air around them with passionate grief.
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Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company: Curriculum IV: Spin and Spin! Turn! Turn! Turn!
Robert F. Wagner Park, 20 Battery Place in Battery Park City
September 10, 12 and 13. FREE
In 2001, the Lower Manhattan Culture Council (LMCC) commissioned Bill T. Jones to create a new work that was set to premiere on September 12 outside the Twin Towers. It never happened. Twenty-five years later, LMCC asked Jones to create a new work inspired by that missed moment and everything that’s happened since. With music by Samora Pinderhughes and choreography by Jones, Curriculum IV: Spin and Spin! Turn! Turn! Turn! is their response to the aftermath of 9/11 and the ensuing loss of freedom. The performance is free but reservations are required.
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Beyond the Stardust
The Flea, 20 Thomas Street between Broadway and Church Street in Tribeca
September 10-October 18
Conceived by The Illustrious Blacks (Monstah and Black!) and The Flea’s artistic director Niegel Smith, Beyond the Stardust is an immersive nightlife experience featuring 12 original songs (performed and composed by The Blacks) accompanied by aerialists, go-go performers, dancers, scantily clad bodies and an uplifting dose of Black queer joy. The fabulously otherworldly Monstah and Black! are here to help us get our groove back! Come prepared to dance (though limited seating is available for those who need it).
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FORCE: Suzik
Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue near 5th Street in Long Island City, Queens
September 12. FREE
The Bushwick Starr, 419 Eldert Street between Covert and Halsey Streets in Bushwick, Brooklyn
September 13. FREE
Suzik is the Korean word for verticality, and the athletic troupe FORCE brings this concept to life through Chinese pole performance as three men defy gravity with each other’s support. Part of the annual Citizen Arts International Festival, Suzik is free but reservations are encouraged.
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The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
September 16-27
Sonya Tayeh won a Tony Award for choreographing Moulin Rouge! on Broadway and earned raves for her mesmerizing adaptation of Black Swan earlier this year. In The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor, she melds her slick pop sensibilities with the late singer-songwriter’s activist spirit in a 70-minute dance piece featuring a cast of 11 talented women from NYC’s contemporary dance scene. Manchester, UK’s Factory International coproduces with The Joyce.
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Mulan
David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
September 18-20
Inspired by the same Chinese folk legend as the Disney movie, this dance drama diverges sharply from the animated feature by focusing on the title character’s desire to honor her father by taking his place in a fight to protect her homeland. This production won China’s greatest dance honor, the China Dance Lotus Award, and is directed and choreographed by Zhou Liya and Han Zhen, who fuse martial arts, marching formations and classical Chinese dance for this thrilling tale.
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Fall for Dance Festival
New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Midtown West
September 22-October 3
Every year, Fall for Dance kicks off the season by presenting some of the most famous dancers and companies in the world. This year, the festival has a heavy rotation of ballet companies tackling contemporary choreography, including Boston Ballet doing Akram Khan’s Vertical Road: (Reimagined); The Royal Ballet performing Loughlan Prior’s Paganini – The First Virtuoso; San Francisco Ballet taking on Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun; The Australian Ballet essaying Stephanie Lake’s Seven Days and Miami City Ballet in Roses from the South: Three Waltzes for Toby by Alexei Ratmansky. There are many contemporary troupes, too, such as Israel’s Lior Tavori Dance Company, Spain’s Juan Tomás de la Molía, Germany’s Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Philadelphia’s PHILADANCO! and the wild members of Australia’s Pony Cam. Tickets only cost $30 for each program, so hurry. Many dates are already sold out!
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New York City Ballet: Fall Season
David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square
September 22-October 18
New York City Ballet’s fall season launches with a weeklong run of George Balanchine’s Jewels, a trio of ballets, each evoking a different gem and vibe: Emeralds (enchanting France), Rubies (jazzy America) and Diamonds (imperial Russia). From there, the company presents a series of masterworks, including Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments and Jerome Robbins’ hilariously theatrical The Concert. The company’s annual Fall Fashion Gala takes place on October 1 with premieres from the incredible Jennifer Archibald (in collaboration with Robert Wun), while Alysa Pires premieres her second piece for the troupe alongside fashion designer Viktor&Rolf. We’ll share more October highlights next month.
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The BLACK BLACK BLACK Week
Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street at Banker Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
September 23-25
The fourth annual BLACK BLACK BLACK Week focuses on the theme of family reunion, with festival curators Chanel Stone, Cemiyon Barber and Dominica Greene centering connection, healing, belonging and joy. Each evening features a trio of acclaimed Black dance makers in an intimate space, indulging their authentic selves.
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I Believed It Too
Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
September 24-26. If you’re a TDF Member, log in to purchase discount tickets.
Dancer-choreographer Kashia Kancey opens BAC’s fall season with I Believed It Too, a dance-theatre drama that follows a performer trying to escape a cycle of disappointment and self-destruction. Kancey presents numerous examples of what ails her stage alter ago without abandoning the glamour and love the character craves.
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New York Theatre Ballet: Legends & Visionaries: The Next Era
Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church, 131 East 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues in the East Village
September 25-26
New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) and Danspace celebrate 10 years of collaboration as NYTB’s new artistic director Antonia Franceschi presents her inaugural offering, a mix of original works, repertoire and company premieres. Mark Baldwin, Juilliard dance dean Melissa Toogood, Tony nominee Annie-B Parson and former New York City Ballet dancer Franceschi all contribute works.
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Barkha Dance Company: icchā
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street at Greenwich Street in Tribeca
September 25-26
Princess Grace Award-winning choreographer barkha patel presents her latest solo icchā, about a woman visited in a dream by her maternal ancestors, who share their hopes and desires. This personal piece combines kathak—one of India’s eight major dance forms known for its sophisticated turns and percussive foot stomps—with the Gujarati folk form garba, original music by Sushma Soma and Samiullah Khan, and film.
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The Sarasota Ballet
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea
September 29-October 4
The Sarasota Ballet is acclaimed for staging beautiful and faithful productions of work by Frederick Ashton, the founding choreographer of The Royal Ballet. For this engagement, the troupe presents numerous excerpts from Ashton’s oeuvre, notably his rarely seen balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. Additional highlights include Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary, and one of Peter Wright’s modern pieces, Summertide, in honor of his 100th birthday.
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