15 Dance Performances to See in March

Catch American Ballet Theatre, Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo & Juliet Suite, Mark Morris Dance Group and more

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Leap into spring with some major dance events, including American Ballet Theatre’s three-week run, Mark Morris at BAM and Benjamin Millepied’s acclaimed Romeo & Juliet Suite at Park Avenue Armory. The ongoing Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels fest also co-presents many intriguing programs.

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Romeo & Juliet Suite

Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets on the Upper East Side

Runs March 2-21.

Benjamin Millepied and his LA Dance Project bring their ambitious, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous couple to Park Avenue Armory in a site-specific work fusing dance, theatre and film. While Millepied uses portions of Prokofiev’s beloved ballet score, Romeo & Juliet Suite is a swifter, more cinematic experience than traditional three-act productions, with some sequences live-streamed from secluded sections of the venue. Each performance features different pairings as the star-crossed lovers in an inclusive celebration of love. Part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels fest.

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Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker: EXIT ABOVE

NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in the West Village

Runs March 5-7. If you’re a TDF Member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has been creating thought-provoking dance for decades and she continues to surprise and challenges audiences. In EXIT ABOVE, a 2023 work inspired by the blues, 17 dancers transform the everyday act of walking into hypnotic movement accompanied by singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees and guitarists Jean-Marie Aerts and Carlos Garbin. Part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels fest.

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American Ballet Theatre Spring Season

David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza at 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue in Lincoln Square

Runs March 6-21.

American Ballet Theatre’s inaugural spring season is anchored by two dramatic ballets featuring classic narratives and bold visuals. Lar Lubovitch’s 1997 three-act interpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello, performed to an original score by Elliot Goldenthal, features a trio of rotating casts. Alexei Ratmansky’s highly contemporary 2012 spin on Stravinsky’s iconic Firebird rotates three ballerinas as the magical title creature: Catherine Hurlin, Chloe Misseldine and Léa Fleytoux. The lineup also includes George Balanchine’s transcendent late masterwork Mozartiana, staged by former New York City Ballet luminary Maria Calegari; duets by Jiří Kylián and Ratmansky; and the Grand Pas Hongrois from Raymonda, an elegant and spirited showcase of 19th-century classical technique set to a buoyant Alexander Glazunov score.

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Valentina Baché: Dog God//Germ Angels

Triskelion Arts, 106 Calyer Street at Banker Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Runs March 12-14.

Born in Mexico, Valentina Baché incorporates ritual, magical realism and performance art into her genre-defying work. In this new dance-theatre piece, she evokes the experience and impact of Hurricane Wilma, which devastated her homeland in 2005.

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Brooklyn Ballet

The Mark O’Donnell Theater, 160 Schermerhorn Street between Smith and Hoyt Streets in Downtown Brooklyn

Runs March 12-15.

Titled Soft Power, Brooklyn Ballet’s spring season offers four premieres exploring a range of choreography, from ballet to street dance. In addition to a piece by the company’s founder and artistic director, Lynn Parkerson, there are works by Brooklyn-based contemporary dance artist Alexis Diggs, street dancer and longtime company collaborator Mike “Big Mike” Fields and Alexis Zanety, a former soloist with Cuba’s National Dance Company.

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Robyn Orlin: We wear our wheels with pride

NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in the West Village

Runs March 13-14. If you’re a TDF Member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.

In this North American premiere, Robyn Orlin blends dance, song and theatre as she conjures childhood memories of Zulu men pulling resplendent rickshaws during apartheid in her South African homeland. The performers are members of Johannesburg’s renowned Moving into Dance Mophatong (MIDM), and the multifaceted work also incorporates a vocalist and slam poetry. Part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels fest.

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Works & Process Rotunda Project: Early Works by Lucinda Childs

Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street on the Upper East Side

Runs March 14-15.

The invaluable Works & Process series joins with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels to present dances by Lucinda Childs created more than six decades ago. Still very active at 85—she made a stunning new work for Gibney Dance last year—Childs is known for her choreography’s spare formalism and geometric patterns. She started out in the early 1960s as a member of the groundbreaking Judson Dance Theater, and this program includes some of her solos from that era along with early dances made for her namesake company, which was founded in 1973.

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Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition

Multiple Manhattan locations.

Runs March 17-21.

More than 100 young ballet dancers show off their skills at this annual competition founded by former Bolshoi Ballet and New York City Ballet dancer Valentina Kozlova, now a noted teacher. Organized by age, the hopefuls compete in classical, contemporary and free style categories. Rounds are held Tuesday, March 17 to Thursday, March 19 at New York Live Arts in Chelsea. The gala performance and announcement of winners takes place at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on Saturday, March 21.

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Ailey II

The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea

Runs March 17-22.

The junior ensemble of the illustrious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater gives a dozen budding dancers an opportunity to perform original works by cutting-edge choreographers as well as highlights from the company’s repertory. The two alternating programs include premieres created for Ailey II by Renée I. McDonald, Rena Butler and My’Kal Stromile, along with a piece by former Ailey dancer Chalvar Monteiro set to the groundbreaking songs of Chuck Berry.

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Jane Comfort and Company

La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village

Runs March 19-22.

Veteran dance-maker and theatre artist Jane Comfort is known for work that is smart, sophisticated and layered. This La MaMa program features pieces from three different time periods that explore our nation’s political and social landscape. It includes the world premiere The Gulf of America, which tackles the current immigration crisis and is set to a score by acclaimed composer Heather Christian (Oratorio for Living Things, the upcoming Animal Wisdom). Also on the bill are Comfort’s 1996 work Bites and an excerpt from her Afro-Brazilian-flavored 1983 piece Artificial Horizon.

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Hiroaki Umeda: assimilating and Moving State 1

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street between First and Second Avenues in Midtown East

Runs March 20-21.

Japan Society presents a pair of works by cutting-edge Japanese choreographer Hiroaki Umeda. Performed by four women, Moving State 1 emphasizes fluidity. In his high-energy solo assimilating, Umeda’s intense muscular activity blends with a vibrant backdrop of light and sound.

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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street in Chelsea

Runs March 24-April 5.

This Chicago-based contemporary troupe returns to The Joyce with two programs that include selections celebrating Hubbard Street Dance’s ongoing partnership with the Verdon Fosse® Legacy. The first week features Nacho Duato’s Gnawa, created for Hubbard Street in 2005; Blue Soup by resident choreographer Aszure Barton; and Sweet Gwen Suite, a reconstruction of a vintage collaboration between Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. The second week offers Within the Frame by James Gregg, Matthew Rushing’s Beauty Chasers, Barton’s Blue Soup and Fosse’s Percussion IV, a virtuosic male solo from his Broadway revue Dancin’.

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Juilliard Spring Dances 2026

Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in Lincoln Square

Runs March 25-28.

This annual showcase is a rite of spring for Juilliard’s talented, ready-for-anything Dance Division students as they perform a range of classic works. José Limón and Martha Graham, who taught at Juilliard in its early years, are on the program. Limón’s rarely seen 1967 Psalm draws on the Talmudic legend of the “Just Men,” while Graham is represented by Diversion of Angels (1948), one of her most lyrical works. Also on the lineup are Merce Cunningham’s Pond Way (1998) and Alvin Ailey’s Night Creature (1974) with its Duke Ellington score performed by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra.

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Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Runs March 26-29.

The historic BAM opera house is an ideal setting for Mark Morris’ fascinating and unpredictable repertory of dances along with his top-drawer musicians. The first program features his full-evening MOON with costumes by Isaac Mizrahi and evocative projections by Wendall K. Harrington. The second includes the New York premiere of Via Dolorosa inspired by the 14 Stations of the Cross, with an eye-popping set design by the painter Howard Hodgkin and a solo harp score by Nico Muhly.

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Jodi Melnick and Sara Mearns: Superbloom (Dancing Into Choreographic Forms)

92NY, 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street on the Upper East Side

Runs March 27-28.

Two disparate dance world luminaries, postmodern choreographer Jodi Melnick and New York City Ballet star Sara Mearns, continue their decade-long collaboration with Superbloom (Dancing Into Choreographic Forms). In this world premiere, they pay homage to the pioneering female choreographers who influenced their work as dance-makers, including Sara Rudner and Trisha Brown. Can’t make it in person? The program will be available to live-stream starting at noon on March 29.

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