Lam Dance Works to Showcase New Ballet Premieres at the Emerson Paramount Center
The program opens with a world premiere by Yury Yanowsky, now artistic curator and resident choreographer of Ballet Rhode Island, created for Lam.
Lam Dance Works, founded by former Boston Ballet principal John Lam, will return this spring with Forward: Dance Transformed, presented May 15-16, 2026 at the Emerson Paramount Center. The program features three world premieres and three Boston premieres, bringing together choreographers and dancers from across the United States and Europe for an evening of contemporary ballet.
Curated by Lam, Forward reflects the company's vision of presenting internationally active artists in an intimate setting rarely found in Boston. Drawing performers from Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and across Europe, the program places the city in conversation with a broader global dance community while creating space for collaboration across generations and artistic traditions. Lam will also return to the stage in Forward, continuing the performing career that made him one of Boston Ballet's most admired principals for two decades. His performance reflects the company's commitment to keeping the creative dialogue between choreographers and dancers at the center of its work.
The program opens with a world premiere by Yury Yanowsky, now artistic curator and resident choreographer of Ballet Rhode Island, created for Lam. The collaboration reunites two artists who spent many years dancing together at Boston Ballet, bringing their shared history back to the stage in a new creative chapter. Known for choreography that blends classical ballet technique with vivid theatrical storytelling, Yanowsky's work often unfolds with cinematic pacing and emotional intensity.
Also premiering is Ekko Greenbaum's Month Eight, her first commissioned work for Lam Dance Works. Lam first encountered Greenbaum while she was a student at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, recognizing an emerging choreographic voice that has continued to develop. Created for four female dancers, Month Eight examines the shifting dynamics of human relationships through movement that is raw, immediate, and emotionally direct.
In James Gregg's Black Onyx, the Los Angeles-based choreographer reimagines classical ballet aesthetics through a contemporary lens. The new ensemble work brings together professional dancers alongside artists from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, creating a stage shared across generations and reflecting Lam Dance Works' commitment to mentorship and artistic exchange.
The evening also introduces Boston audiences to three works receiving their Boston premieres. Alessandro Giaquinto's Yasuragi No Chi, originally created for The Stuttgart Ballet's 2022 Japan tour and set to music by Rhye, draws inspiration from the Japanese concept of yasuragi-a state of deep calm and release. The meditative duet will be performed by Mattia Baccon of Semperoper Ballett alongside Giaquinto.
Jacopo Godani's Echoes from a Restless Soul unfolds to Maurice Ravel's virtuosic piano composition Gaspard de la Nuit, translating the work's dark poetic imagery into a series of striking duets and ensemble passages. Known for his high-velocity, technically demanding choreographic language, Godani merges classical structure with contemporary physicality in a work of intense musicality.
Completing the program is Ken Ossola's Of Light, an abstract ballet performed by New York's Joffrey Concert Group. Through fluid, sculptural movement, the work explores contrasts of weight and airiness, reflecting the Swiss choreographer's poetic sensibility and distinctive visual style.
Following its inaugural performance in 2025, Lam Dance Works is quickly establishing itself as a distinctive new presence in Boston's dance landscape. Through intimate performances that unite guest artists, emerging dancers, and new choreography, the company is creating a platform for collaboration and discovery that offers Boston audiences a new way to experience contemporary ballet.
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