The Joyce Announces Fall 2019/Winter 2020 Season

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation, announced today the New York City dance organization's programming for its Fall '19 Winter '20 season, the first in collaboration with The Joyce's new Director of Programming, Aaron Mattocks. With dance styles from contemporary and modern to street and social, and traditional movement from Argentina, India, Spain, Samoa, and beyond, The Joyce continues to lead the way in international dance presentations while nurturing and supporting artists from all disciplines at every stage of their careers. The New York City organization, one of the world's largest presenters of dance, is especially excited to announce that live music will be featured during each and every engagement from the start of the season through the end of 2019. Fall '19/Winter '20 at The Joyce will be a true celebration of diversity in dance with programs and styles that encompass the wide range of aesthetic interests of both its artists and audiences.

In announcing The Joyce Theater's Fall '19/Winter '20 season, Executive Director Linda Sheltonsaid, "Our season reflects the longstanding values of The Joyce as we move into a new era of artistic leadership. We're excited to continue the tradition of presenting the best dance companies in the world each year as well as investing in the future of dance by bringing engaging, relevant, and forward thinking movers to our stage. Our commitment this season to live music collaborations, Joyce debuts, new work commissions and premieres, and first time partnerships underscores our ongoing work to be a local, national and international leader in the dance field." Aaron Mattocks, the organization's new Director of Programming, added, "Next season focuses on what has always been at the core of The Joyce's programming and mission-rhythm and music; breadth of cultural forms and aesthetic diversity; and spanning the globe with new talent, fresh perspectives, and distinctive voices. I want to highlight the best of what dance can offer audiences today-joy, celebration, wonder, belonging-and what artists can inspire in all of us."

Two lauded and in-demand choreographers will return to The Joyce next season after recent acclaimed engagements. A.I.M brings a mixed bill of solos, duets, and company works, including the world premiere of founder Kyle Abraham's newest solo danced by himself and accompanied by a live gospel choir. The opening performance of A.I.M's engagement will feature a solo choreographed by Abraham danced by American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland. In a collaboration with Billboard chart-topping classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein, Pam Tanowitz stages New Work for Goldberg Variations for her company, with Dinnerstein's live, nuanced accompaniment.

Some of the world's most renowned hoofers will take the stage at The Joyce throughout the upcoming season. Dorrance Dance will shuffle off into the holidays with a three-week residency, including a world premiere by founder Michelle Dorrance set to Duke Ellington's version of The Nutcracker Suite, and the New York premiere of All Good Things Come to an End, with the music of Fats Waller. Celebrated tap dancer Ayodele Casel will be joined by six-time Grammy-winner Arturo O'Farrill for a collaboration that draws from their mutual roots in Afro-Latin jazz culture. Making their Joyce debut as a collective, Dormeshia, Derrick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith bring their breathtaking celebration of tap history And Still You Must Swing to The Joyce in a special collaboration with Camille A. Brown.

Audiences are treated to a double dose of Ms. Brown, as Camille A. Brown & Dancers present Mr. TOL E. RAncE, the work that spawned the choreographer's dance theater trilogy on black identity. In the same week, Ephrat Asherie Dance follows up its 2019 American Dance Platform appearance with Odeon, a high-energy collaboration between the eponymous choreographer and her brother, jazz pianist Ehud Asherie, with elements of breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue.

The newest edition of American Dance Platform kicks off the New Year in 2020, curated by Christy Bolingbroke (founding Executive and Artistic Director of the National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron) and showcasing eight captivating companies: Rennie Harris Puremovement, Urban Bush Women, Limón Dance Company, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, ODC/Dance, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Bruce Wood Dance, and Embodiment Project, the latter two making their Joyce debuts.

A pair of audience favorite contemporary ballet companies will make return appearances this season. COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet brings an updated version of the Stevie Wonder-scored Innervisions, along with four other works-two brought back by popular demand and two world premieres. Inspired by the beloved novella of the same name, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's evening-length ballet The Little Prince marks its New York premiere, danced by BalletX in a continuation of their long-standing creative relationship with Ochoa.

Two South American companies will bring their distinctive regional styles to The Joyce's intimate Chelsea home. Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker returns to The Joyce for the first time since 2002 with her award-winning Cão Sem Plumas (Dog Without Feathers), a multimedia exploration of the life-sustaining element of water. In their Joyce debut, the foot-stomping South American cowboys of Che Malambo bring the machismo in spades through their centuries-old Argentinian percussive dance.

Other international dance companies and artists appearing this season include Shantala Shivalingappa, embodying the rich history of South Indian dance in Akasha, a work of five solos accompanied by live musicians; Soledad Barrio + Noche Flamenca in Entre Tú y Yo (Between You and Me), a thrilling program featuring some of Spain's top flamenco dancers; and South Africa's Vuyani Dance Theatre making their Joyce debut in Cion: Requiem of Ravel's Boléro, presented as part of the first partnership between The Joyce and Prototype Festival.

A large selection of additional Joyce debuts rounds out the upcoming season. Kicking off the festivities in September is Victor Quijada's athletic troupe RUBBERBAND in the U.S. premiere of Ever So Slightly, which uses the contrast of grace and grit to demonstrate humanity's reaction to the daily nuisances of life. Black Grace will present a bill of works choreographed by founder and artistic director Neil Ieremia in his fusion of South Pacific traditions and contemporary dance, highlighted by the U.S. premiere of E Toa, E Toa. The New York premiere of The Sun Still Burns Here brings Kate Wallich & The YC X Perfume Genius, AKA Mike Hadreas, to The Joyce for the first time in this co-commission from Seattle Theatre Group, Mass MoCA, and The Joyce. Renowned dancer and newly appointed Associate Artistic Director of New York City Ballet, where she danced for 30 years, Wendy Whelan collaborates with rock star cellist Maya Beiser, choreographer Lucinda Childs, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang on THE DAY, an evening length sensory exploration of eternal life.

The following is a complete roster of companies who will appear at The Joyce Theater this fall and winter:

RUBBERBAND

Ever So Slightly

September 17-22

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Sept 18

Family Performance: Sat, Sept 21 at 2pm

Tickets: $45, $25, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444;Billy@KornbergPR.com

Los Angeles native Victor Quijada grew up breakdancing and performed with Twyla Tharp's company before creating his own troupe in 2002. His internationally renowned RUBBERBANDmakes its Joyce debut with Ever So Slightly, a thrilling work exploring the reflexes we develop against the irritants that bombard our daily lives. Simultaneously delivering delicacy, brutality, and high-voltage action, the group's ten dancer-athletes deliver the energy of revolt, chaos, and flight with finesse.

Ayodele Casel + Arturo O'Farrill

September 24-29

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Sept 25

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Ayodele Casel comes together with six-time Grammy Award winner Arturo O'Farrill to create a collaborative world premiere. Rooted in Afro-Latin jazz culture, both artists share a common musical language that flows freely from modal jazz to stride piano to danzón to salsa and rhumba. Joined by a team of incredible musicians and tap dancers, Casel and O'Farrill explore genre-bending music and dance filled with unbridled joy.

BALLETX

The Little Prince

October 1-6

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Oct 2

Family Performance: Sat, Oct 5 at 2pm

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

BalletX returns to The Joyce Theater with the New York premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's The Little Prince, a full-length ballet performed to the live music of composer Peter Salem. Inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's timeless novella of adventure and enlightenment, Lopez Ochoa's The Little Prince is a ballet for the whole family, sure to delight the imagination of children and adults alike.

SHANTALA SHIVALINGAPPA

Akasha

October 8-12

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm

Tickets: $45, $25, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Preeminent Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa brings her work Akasha to The Joyce. Offering audiences vivid interpretations of the classical South Indian dance style, steeped in expressive narrative with flowing lines, nimble leaps, and percussive footwork, the program showcases the Bessie Award-winning performer's exceptional artistry in five solos inspired by ancient Hindu poems brought to life with four master musicians.

A.I.M

October 15-20

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Oct 16

Family Performance: Sat, Oct 19 at 2pm

Opening Night (October 15) Tickets: $130, $115, $20, $10

October 16-20 Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Kyle Abraham's brilliant company returns with an enticing program including the world premiere of the choreographer's newest solo for himself accompanied by a live gospel choir, and a special opening night program featuring a new work, also by Abraham, for American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland. Also included, Show Pony, another recent solo work by Abraham performed alternately by Princess Grace Award recipients Tamisha Guy and Marcella Lewis; and Big Rings, a dynamic group work created by A.I.M member Keerati Jinakunwiphat. The company premiere of Trisha Brown's groundbreaking 1976 work Solo Olos rounds out the program.

THE DAY

Maya Beiser + Wendy Whelan + Lucinda Childs + David Lang

October 22-27

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Oct 23

Family Performance: Sat, Oct 26 at 2pm

Tickets: $75, $55, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

A collaboration among legends, THE DAY is a new work by cellist Maya Beiser, beloved dancer Wendy Whelan, iconoclastic choreographer Lucinda Childs, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. A New York premiere, this momentous melding of multi-genre creative genius comes in an evening-long sensory exploration of two journeys-life and the eternal, post-mortal voyage of the soul. THE DAY is a bold and highly collaborative work that explores universal themes through the shared language of music and dance.

BLACK GRACE

October 29-November 3

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Oct 30

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Black Grace makes its Joyce debut with a selection of works choreographed by founder and artistic director Neil Ieremia spanning the company's 24-year history. Signature pieces such as Pati Pati, Deep Far, and Method appear alongside the U.S. premiere of E Toa, E Toa, which incorporates live singing and traditional Cook Island Drumming. Excerpts from recent full-length works include Crying Men, which explores masculinity from a Pacific perspective, and As Night Falls, set to music by Vivaldi.

EPHRAT ASHERIE DANCE

Odeon

November 5-7

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu 8pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Nov 6

Tickets: $45, $25, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Choreographer Ephrat Asherie brings a high-energy, hybrid work that layers breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue. In their second collaboration together, the choreographer teams up with her brother, jazz pianist Ehud Asherie. In Odeon, the duo reimagines signature compositions of 20th-century Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth, noted for melding classical music with Afro-Brazilian rhythms. Featuring seven dancers and four musicians, Odeon creates an entirely original world.

Camille A. Brown & DANCERS

Mr. TOL E. RAncE

November 9-10

Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Bessie Award-winning Mr. TOL E. RAncE is the first installment of Camille A. Brown's trilogy on Black identity. Inspired by Spike Lee's provocative movie Bamboozled, and Mel Watkins's book On the Real Side: A History of African American Comedy from Slavery to Chris Rock, Brown's work celebrates the humor and perseverance of the black performer while examining stereotypes that still dominate popular Black culture. Comedy, animation, and theater come together with live soul-stirring music and compositions from award winning artists to engage the audience in a timely dialogue.

KATE WALLICH + THE YC X PERFUME GENIUS

The Sun Still Burns Here

November 13-17

Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Thu, Nov 14

Tickets: $45, $25, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Experience a spiritual unraveling of romantic decay with the New York premiere of The Sun Still Burns Here, which blends contemporary dance and live, soul-baring pop-rock. The combination of Perfume Genius's glorious music with the exacting craft and raw potency of Kate Wallich's movement is certain to transport audiences into a world of spectacular artistry. Wallich, who has been named in Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch," brings her Seattle-based troupe The YC to The Joyce for the first time.

This work is commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group, Mass MoCA and The Joyce Theater and was created, in part, with the support of The Joyce Theater Foundation's Artist Residency Center, made possible by lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Production of 'The Sun Still Burns Here' is made possible with major support from Studio Kate Wallich.

Soledad Barrio + Noche Flamenca

November 19-December 1

Week 1 (Nov 19-24): Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Week 2 (Nov 26-Dec 1): Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Nov 20

Family Performance: TBD

Tickets: $60, $45, $20, $10

Press Contact: TBD

Soledad Barrio performs with some of Spain's most celebrated flamenco artists in Entre Tú y Yo (Between You and Me), an evening-length program of duets, solos, and ensemble works. The program opens with an exploration of the duet form, and builds to a cathartic finale with a semi-improvised solo for Barrio, touching on themes of love, passion, jealousy, and death.

AND STILL YOU MUST SWING

Dormeshia, Derick K. Grant + Jason Samuels Smith with Camille A. Brown

December 3-8

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Dec 4

Family Performance: Sat, Dec 7 at 2pm

Tickets: $65, $45, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

And Still You Must Swing brings together three of the best tap dancers in the world-Dormeshia, who leads the project alongside Derick K. Grant and Jason Samuels Smith-to capture the heart and legacy of tap dance, and honor the jazz roots of this American art form. Audiences will revel in this rhythmic feast, which includes live music, dynamic choreography, stunning improvisation, and a special collaboration with Camille A. Brown.

PAM TANOWITZ + SIMONE DINNERSTEIN

New Work for Goldberg Variations

December 10-15

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Dec 11

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

New Work for Goldberg Variations is an evening-length work created by choreographer Pam Tanowitz and pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who performs live with Pam Tanowitz Dance. One of the foremost Bach interpreters of her generation, Dinnerstein brings her nuanced understanding of the demanding score to Tanowitz's witty and unflinching abstractions of classical and popular dance forms in an interplay of rhythm, style, and idiosyncrasy.

DORRANCE DANCE

December 17-January 5

Week One (Dec 17-22): Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Week Two (Dec 24-29): Tue 7:30pm; Thu 2pm & 8pm, Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Week Three (Dec 31-Jan 5): Tue 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Dec 18

Family Performance: TBD

Tickets: $75, $55, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Dorrance Dance arrives just in time for the holidays with a world premiere by Michelle Dorrance set to Duke Ellington's sublime interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. And in the New York premiere of All Good Things Come to an End, the iconic music of Fats Waller frames a wild, satirical ride through tableaux ranging from "Cane and Able" to "The Myth of the American Dream." A thrilling collection of unique voices, Dorrance is joined onstage with her collaborators Hannah Heller, Melinda Sullivan, and Josette Wiggan-Freund.

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM

January 7-12

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Family Performance: Sat, Jan 11 at 2pm

Tickets: $45, $25, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444;Billy@KornbergPR.com

The American Dance Platform showcases some of the most captivating American companies performing today. Created as a way to celebrate and promote companies from across the United States, each platform is programmed by a different curator appointed by The Joyce. This year's offerings have been selected by Christy Bolingbroke, founding executive/artistic director at the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron. The program will include performances by Rennie Harris Puremovement, Urban Bush Women, Limón Dance Company, Bruce Wood Dance, Embodiment Project, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and ODC/Dance.

PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL: CION (REQUIEM OF RAVEL'S BOLERO)

Vuyani Dance Theatre

January 15-18

Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm

Curtain Chat: Thu, Jan 16

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: TBD

Physically charged and visually striking, Cion: Requiem of Ravel's Boléro is a powerful work featuring live singing, choreographed by South African star Gregory Vuyani Maqoma. Set in a graveyard filled with the haunting music of Isicathamiya singers-an a cappella style originating from the Zulu people-the production draws inspiration from Zakes Mda's novel Cion and Maurice Ravel's Boléro. Presented as part of the pioneering opera-theatre festival PROTOTYPE, in Maqoma's words, the show is "a lament, a requiem required to awaken a part of us, the connection to the departed souls."

COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET

January 21-February 2

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: TBD

Family Performance: TBD

Tickets: $65, $45, $20, $10

Press Contact: Sin Gogolak, 917-626-0525; sin@gogopr.nyc

Artistic directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson serve up thought-provoking and entertaining contemporary ballet performed by an extraordinary company of dancers. A refreshed version of audience favorite, Innervisions, set to the music of Stevie Wonder, returns alongside two crowd-pleasing world premieres. Rounding out the program, WOKE, and the athletic and celebratory Bach 25 are back by popular demand.

COMPANHIA DE DANÇA DEBORAH COLKER

Cão Sem Plumas (Dog Without Feathers)

February 4-9

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Feb 5

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker makes a long-awaited return with Cão Sem Plumas (Dog Without Feathers), an evocative performance inspired by João Cabral de Melo Neto's poem of the same name. Winner of the international Prix Benois de la Danse, the work explores the Capibaribe River region in Northeast Brazil and the dry land and riverbed dwellers that water sustains. In a powerful blend of contemporary dance, poetry, music, and film, Colker meditates on inequity and resilience as she attempts to dissolve the moving body, covered in dust, into liquid and into each word of the poem.

CHE MALAMBO

February 11-16

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Wed, Feb 12

Family Performance: Sat, Feb 15 at 2pm

Tickets: $55, $35, $20, $10

Press Contact: Billy Zavelson / Richard Kornberg & Associates, 212-944-9444; Billy@KornbergPR.com

The show-stopping, foot-stomping all-male dance company Che Malambo brings rich Argentinian traditions and rigorous dancing to the Joyce stage for an exhilarating show that is perfect for the entire family. A dance form practiced by gauchos, or South American cowboys, Malambo developed in the 17th century from competitive duels that tested agility, strength, and dexterity.

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CURTAIN CHATS

The Joyce Theater holds free post-performance dialogues with artistic directors and/or company members following designated performances. These dialogues are open to all audience members attending that evening's performance.

FAMILY PERFORMANCES

Created to help build dance audiences for the future, The Joyce's popular family-oriented performance series will return this season with a staggering 15 performances across 11 engagements, each followed by a special chance to meet the artists. Kids' tickets are only $10. Children who see three or more family matinees automatically become Joyce Junior Members and save 40% on the price of their tickets ($10 reduced to $6). Children, ages 6-14, must be accompanied by an adult (maximum four kids to one grown-up). Joyce Junior Members get a special "Backstage-at-the-Joyce" tour, a T-shirt, and gift coupons.

This fall/winter season's Family Performance series is as follows (Kids (ages 6-14) must be accompanied by an adult):

RUBBERBAND

Saturday, September 21 at 2pm

BalletX

Saturday, October 5 at 2pm

A.I.M

Saturday, October 19 at 2pm

THE DAY

Saturday, October 26 at 2pm

Camille A. Brown & Dancers

Saturday, November 9 at 2pm

Soledad Barrio + Noche Flamenca

TBD

And Still You Must Swing

Saturday, December 7 at 2pm

Dorrance Dance

TBD

American Dance Platform

Saturday, January 11 at 2pm

COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet

TBD

Che Malambo

Saturday, February 15 at 2pm