The Best of NYC Dance

October 14, 2015

Herman Cornejo and Fang-Yi Sheu (photo by Erin Baiano, courtesy New York City Center)

Limón Lovin’

This year marks the Limón Dance Company’s 70th anniversary season, and what better way to celebrate the iconic modern choreographer than with a big party? October 13–25, dance companies from around the globe—including The Royal Danish Ballet and the Bavarian State Ballet—will perform some of Limón’s seminal work at The Joyce Theater. Nine student-dance companies will also take the festival stage, including dancers from Southern Methodist University, who’ll perform Limón’s There Is a Time. “It really speaks to the importance of the work when it’s experienced on this level, with so many professional companies,” says Patty Harrington Delaney, SMU’s chair of dance. Will students get to mingle with company members? Longtime Limón Dance Company dancer Ryoko Kudo is hopeful for those kinds of interactions: “It would be wonderful if this opened more doors to collaboration and if we could continue to work together,” she says.

Get more info: joyce.org

Choreography Gone Couture

New York City Ballet’s 2015 fall season (September 22–October 18) features world premieres by choreographers Robert Binet, Kim Brandstrup, Justin Peck (his ninth for the company!), Troy Schumacher and Myles Thatcher. And for the fourth year in a row, NYCB’s fall season is celebrating the dance–fashion connection. Six internationally acclaimed designers—including Zuhair Murad and, for Oscar de la Renta, Peter Copping—will create couture costumes, to be unveiled at the NYCB gala on September 30 at Lincoln Center.

Get more info: nycballet.com

Six Tappers at Sea…on Broadway

If you’ve never heard of the musical Dames at Sea, you’re not alone. Those who have only know it as the off-Broadway show that put Bernadette Peters on the map in 1968. But this month, Dames at Sea finally gets its Broadway debut, with Randy Skinner at the helm as both director and choreographer.

Dames at Sea
follows a day in the life of a girl from Utah who arrives in NYC with big Broadway dreams. Sound familiar? “The show pays homage to three old movie-musicals, including 42nd Street,” Skinner explains. (He earned a Tony nomination for choreographing 42nd Street’s 2001 Broadway revival.) Like 42nd Street, Dames at Sea is loaded with dance numbers, but it’s surprisingly low on cast members. “There are only six performers,” Skinner says. “We expanded a lot of the musical arrangements to add more dancing, so I had to find performers who could sing, act and really dance. They go from tap to ballroom to jazz. And there’s no chorus to back them up!”

Get more info: damesatseabroadway.com

A NYC Tradition

Now in its 12th year, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival kicks off September 30. Twenty companies (and many freelance artists) will be featured in five carefully curated programs—and each ticket costs just $15. Highlights include a brand-new work by Michelle Dorrance and the NYC premiere of former Martha Graham Dance Company principal Fang-Yi Sheu’s piece for herself and American Ballet Theatre principal Herman Cornejo.

Get more info: nycitycenter.org