Martha Graham News

Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) is pleased to announce that applications for the FY2019 Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Program are now available. This program was established at the bequest of Mark Ryder's family, in honor of his life's work, to recognize individual creative expression, and to provide financial assistance to choreographers to create new original work. A fund has been established at the Columbia Foundation to enable monies to be awarded for this purpose in perpetuity. The grant award recipients will be announced at HCAC's Annual Meeting and Grant Awards Ceremony in September 2018. The minimum grant amount will be $500.

The latest addition to the dynamic Martha Graham Studio Series showcases the work of Graham Family members, including emerging and established Graham alumni choreographers. NEXT@Graham is curated by former Graham Company principal dancer Tadej Brdnik. Performances will take placeWednesday and Thursday, May 2–3, at 7pm, at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune Street, 11th floor, in Manhattan.

The Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble is proud to present Modern Rebels, a collection of rarely seen dances ranging from the groundbreaking works of modern dance pioneers Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, Ruth St. Denis, Anna Sokolow, Talley Beatty, and Jane Dudley, to contemporary artists whose artistic lineage is a direct continuation of modern dance tradition.   Two performances, May 29 & 30, at The Tank, 312 West 36th Street.  

Nimbus Dance Works returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music: BAM Fisher, April 21-22, 2018 featuring the World Premiere of Samuel Pott's Esther, an edgy interpretation of the complex First Testament heroine, Esther, whose rise to power entangles themes of feminism, tribalism, and seduction. Esther is performed with live music by the fiercely adventurous Brooklyn Indie-Rock band, Sky-Pony, led by Tony-nominated lead singer Lauren Worsham (Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee) and musician/writer Kyle Jarrow (Obie Award winner). Nimbus also presents World Premieres by Darshan Singh Bhuller (former Artistic Director of London's Phoenix Dance Theater and choreographer of Mapping, acclaimed work from recent Nimbus seasons), and Vernard Gilmore (renowned dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater).

Merce Cunningham is widely considered one of the most important choreographers of all time. Throughout his 70-year career, he continued to innovate, helping to drive the evolution of the American avant-garde and expanding the frontiers of contemporary visual and performance arts.

Annenberg Center Live and NextMove Dance have announced a new co-presenting partnership that will consolidate contemporary dance productions under one roof at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. In the 2018-19 season, Annenberg Center Live and NextMove Dance will present 11 dance ensembles for Philadelphia audiences: Circa, Spectrum Dance Theater, Jessica Lang Dance, Caleb Teicher & Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dance Heginbotham, Union Tanguera + Kate Weare Company, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, BODYTRAFFIC, and Parsons Dance. Subscriptions to the 2018-19 season dance series are on sale now at AnnenbergCenter.org or 215.898.3900. Single tickets will go on sale in July.

The Martha Graham Dance Company's spring NEW@Graham features a look inside two works that are new to the Company: Lucinda Childs' Histoire and Lar Lubovitch's The Legend of Ten.

RIOULT Dance NY, the American modern dance company with a European sensibility dedicated to the creation and presentation of the work of choreographer Pascal Rioult, announces its 2018 New York season May 30th – June 3rd at The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, NYC).

The University Musical Society (UMS), under the leadership of President Matthew VanBesien, today announces its 140th season in 2018-19 with an initial slate of 40 performances and events

RIOULT Dance NY, the American modern dance company with a European sensibility dedicated to the creation and presentation of the work of choreographer Pascal Rioult, announces its 2018 New York season May 30th – June 3rd at The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, NYC). Hailed by the New York Times as having “met the challenge of comparison with George Balanchine,” Rioult will celebrate the historic connection between choreographers and composers in a program titled Written for Dance. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased online at www.joyce.org or by phone at 212.242.0800.

The University Musical Society (UMS), under the leadership of President Matthew VanBesien, today announces its 140th season in 2018-19 with an initial slate of 40 performances and events. One of the country's most acclaimed performing arts presenters, UMS honors its past by showcasing respected ensembles and performers with whom it has enjoyed rich relationships, and fully embraces the future as initiator, incubator, and accelerator for innovative new works and projects. This potent combination infuses the anniversary season with dynamic and diverse voices and perspectives featuring artists at the top of their game - celebrating the canon, taking risks, moving genres in new directions, disrupting stereotypes, and surprising audiences.

Axelrod Performing Arts Center proudly presents the full company of 18 dancers of the Paul Taylor Dance Company (PTDC) to its stage on Saturday, April 14 at 8:00 p.m

Juilliard announced today that Alicia Graf Mack, former leading dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will become director of the Juilliard Dance Division on July 1, 2018. Juilliard Dance is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious training programs in the world, offering instruction in both ballet and modern techniques designed to create true contemporary dancers and choreographers.

While the most recent show of TITAS Presents may be over, the dance scene at the AT&T Performing Arts Center is far from winding down.

The American Dance Festival (ADF) will present the work of Anne Plamondon (May 8, 7:00pm) and dendy/donovan projects (May 10-12, 7:30pm) at New York Live Arts.  

Festival Ballet Providence, (FBP) one of New England's leading dance companies, will bring a wide-ranging program to the University of New Hampshire 'Celebrity Series' April 7, 2018, 7:00pm. The performance will serve as a homecoming for the powerhouse company's Artistic Director Mihailo Djuric, who led Ballet New England in Portsmouth, NH until 1997. Djuric is currently at the helm of Festival Ballet Providence, which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this season.

George Mason University is a bit of a trek when discussing arts organizations in the DMV area. If Saturday night's School of Dance Fete and Gala Concert is any indicator, then this trek is worth making. Celebrating the strides Mason's (still young) dance program has made in recent years, the evening was a unique combination of educational panels and dance showcases. With four moving performances capping off the evening, Mason's dance program cements itself as one to not be underestimated.

A classic from Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato alongside world premieres by Danielle Rowe and James Sofranko highlight SFDanceworks' third season June 8 - 10. Rounding out the program is a duet by Penny Saunders, a recent recipient of the Princess Grace award for choreography. SFDanceworks' Season Three takes place at the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Tickets, $20 - $60, are now on sale via sfdanceworks.org/season-three or by phone at (415) 345-7575.

Choreographers are a rare breed of innovators. Moving dancers through space with humor, passion, elegance and power is their specialty. Now, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and South Orange Performing Arts Center proudly present Artists Who Innovate: A Celebration of New Jersey Choreographers, two spectacular evenings of performances from nine New Jersey choreographers on May 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. These award-winning choreographers have recently been granted fellowships by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for their excellence in choreography. The May 4 performance features the work of Claire Porter, Nancy Turano, Stephanie Nerbak and Kyle Marshall. On May 5 choreographers Hillary-Marie, Loretta DiBianca Fois, Lauren Connolly, Samuel Pott and Keith Thompson will be featured.

Dance Camera West, marking its continued passion for bringing together diverse communities, cultures, and environments to experience dance through the intimate medium of film, along with Jacob Jonas The Company, are thrilled to present the 17th Annual Dance Camera West Film Festival and To The Sea: Dance Concerts on the Pier from April 12 - 15, 2018 with Opening Night festivities taking place at UCLA's Fowler Museum in Westwood, Film Screenings at the Laemmle Film Center in Santa Monica and the Free Sunset To The Sea: Dance Concerts on the Pier taking place on the west-end of the Santa Monica Pier.