New York Live Arts to Present Fall 2026 Season With Bill T. Jones World Premiere

Tony Award-winning, MacArthur Genius Fellow and National Medal of Arts recipient Bill T. Jones announces New York Live Arts (Live Arts) fall 2026 programming. Live Arts' 15th season emphasizes the organization's value in rigor, championing performance built from thoughtful, comprehensive, embodied practice. All onsite presentation tickets on sale now.

To open the 2026-2027 season, Bill T. Jones responds to a collaboration between himself and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, originally scheduled to premiere on September 12, 2001, on the plaza between the Twin Towers. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of that suspended moment—and all that has unfolded since—the world premiere of Curriculum IV: Spin and Spin! Turn! Turn! Turn! brings dance back to Lower Manhattan, shaped by resilience and the passage of time. The special occasion will feature the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and music by multidisciplinary composer Samora Pinderhughes. Commissioned by LMCC's 2026 River To River Festival and presented in partnership with New York Live Arts and Battery Park City Authority, this unprecedented experience by one of the world's most decorated and influential choreographers will be free and open to the public in Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park September 10, 12, & 13.

The world premiere of Allegra by Benjamin Akio Kimitch will kick off onsite performance programming in the renowned Live Arts theater October 8-10. Kimitch conjures a fantasy Japanese American court dance where history presses against memory, and memory against imagination. Drawing from family oral history and years of research in the United States and Japan, ballet stages give way to temple grounds, barren foothills, army barracks, and the stench of empty horse stables. Allegra turns to Bugaku, an ancient dance form whose roots stretch across Persia, India, China, Korea, and Japan. In postwar U.S.-Japan relations, performances of Bugaku inspired multiple collaborations with New York City Ballet, including George Balanchine's own “Bugaku” ballet. These histories converge through a Japanese American lens anchored by the aftermath of the camps in World War II.

October 23-24, Dorothée Munyaneza returns to Live Arts to present Toi, moi, Tituba…, based on French philosopher Elsa Dorlin's essay on Maryse Condé's heroine Tituba. As a black woman and so-called witch, Tituba gives a voice to those who are silenced by force, those erased from history. Inspired by this story, Munyaneza uses her own body as a danced archive. She makes suppressed voices audible, visible and tangible once more. Toi, moi, Tituba… is a striking “collective solo” presenting a multiplicity of voices and perspectives converging in a single body, so no one is forgotten. Presented by New York Live Arts, in association with BAM, L'Alliance New York | Crossing The Line, and Villa Albertine.

A highlight of the fall season is Joanna Kotze's world premiere of this is the beginning, this is the end. The presentation is a high point of Kotze's time as the Live Arts 2025-2026 Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist (RCA), November 6-7 & 11-14. this is the beginning, this is the end interrogates the phenomenon of history repeating itself through an interdisciplinary work that scrutinizes leadership, agency, and the thresholds we encounter individually and collectively. Performed by an ensemble of six dancers and two musicians, the piece examines how individual bodies carry the residue of political and social systems, and how the act of tearing down and rebuilding becomes both an artistic and human imperative. this is the beginning, this is the end features dancers Lena Engelstein, Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Joanna Kotze, Symara Sarai, and Hsiao-Jou Tang, and musicians Maralie Armstrong-Rial and Ryan Seaton.

Through little songs and tales of a thrift shop rug, a garden elf, Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay, small-town England, 3 wedding rings, a single cufflink, and a glimpse of the stars, Ain Gordon and Josh Quillen mourn familial absences with bracing candor and silly detail in Gordon's world premiere of CONDOLENCE Or A Rug & An Elf. Marking their third collaboration December 10-12, the pair, born of different generations and rooted in different disciplines, forge a highly personal, nearly fraternal, brand of sonic storytelling. Joining the development of this project is astrophysicist Dr. Amy Secunda.

Fall programming also includes the intimate live conversation series Bill Chats featuring Bill T. Jones with Joanna Kotze and additional guests to be announced, discussing the phenomenon of history repeating itself on October 2nd; and a decolonization rider presentation from Catalyst/Emily Johnson on December 2nd. Artists selected for the season's early career program Fresh Tracks marking 62 years of new work will be announced soon. Program alum Martita Abril steps into the role of Artistic Advisor, returning to Live Arts again after co-curating the annual In/Between immigrant artist exhibition. The cohort will present a shared evening of work developed during their residency in the spring.

Live Arts is proud to announce dates for the 2027 Live Artery Festival, January 12-23, 2027. Earlier this year, Live Arts named 2019-2020 Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Raja Feather Kelly the 2027 Live Artery Festival Guest Curator. Kelly's programming, developed in partnership with Bill T. Jones, will be announced later this year.

All Live Arts season presentation tickets on sale now at www.NewYorkLiveArts.org / 212-924-0077. Live Arts is proud to offer a flexible ticketing model designed to make performances accessible to a wide range of audiences. Onsite full evening tickets start at a standard price of $30. Limited Pay-What-You-Wish and new $20 Artist Tickets are available for every performance. Live Core Artist Members, Students, and Seniors receive 20% off Standard tickets. Supporter Tickets starting at $50 help sustain artists and expand access to various programs. Standard prices may increase based on demand. $10 Student Rush tickets are available for any onsite show that is not sold-out.

NEW YORK LIVE ARTS FALL 2026 SEASON SCHEDULE

CURRICULUM IV: SPIN AND SPIN! TURN! TURN!

September 10, 12, and 13, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Bill T. Jones with music by Samora Pinderhughes featuring Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company
Wagner Park in Battery Park City

BILL CHATS

October 2, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.
Bill T. Jones, Joanna Kotze, and special guests TBA
New York Live Arts Studios

Tickets start at $20, with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options available.

ALLEGRA

October 8-10, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Benjamin Akio Kimitch
New York Live Arts Theater

Tickets start at $30, with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options available.

TOI, MOI, TITUBA…

October 23-24, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Dorothée Munyaneza / Kadidi Company
New York Live Arts Theater

Tickets start at $30, with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options available.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING, THIS IS THE END

November 6-7 and November 11-14, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Joanna Kotze
New York Live Arts Theater

Tickets start at $30, with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options available.

ACTIVATING THE DECOLONIZATION RIDER

December 2, 2026 at 4:30 p.m.
Emily Johnson/Catalyst
New York Live Arts Studios

Free with RSVP.

CONDOLENCE OR A RUG & AN ELF

December 10-12, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Ain Gordon
New York Live Arts Theater

Tickets start at $30, with limited Pay-What-You-Wish options available.

LIVE ARTERY FESTIVAL

January 12-23, 2027