BalletCollective Will Expand During 2025 Season
The season kicks off on July 18.
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 02, 2025
BalletCollective, the visionary nonprofit known for its interdisciplinary innovation and signature model of developing new ballets, The BalletCollective Process, has announced an expansive 2025 Season in New York City.
For the first time in its history, BalletCollective will present a dedicated Summer Season, presented by the experimental and influential cultural center Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The summer performances will feature a major new full-length immersive work, The Woods, created by Troy Schumacher, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and Jason Ardizzone-West-a dream team of dance, music, and design pioneers. Rounding out the vision is CFDA Award-winning designer Elena Velez, who will costume the cast of 25 dancers, singers, and musicians, including the San Fermin band.
The Woods will transform the full scope of the historic, industrial indoor/outdoor Pioneer Works space into a multisensory performance environment across a limited run of two performances between July 31 - August 1. Seamlessly blending movement, live music, and immersive design, The Woods invites audiences to experience world-class dance in a completely reimagined context.
"We're thrilled to be breaking new ground this summer in partnership with Pioneer Works," says Troy Schumacher, BalletCollective Founder and Artistic Director. "The Woods is not just a performance. It's an experience that surrounds the audience and asks them to engage. Attendees become part of the art itself. It's an invitation to step inside the creative process."
The Woods will be developed in residency during New York Stage and Film's 40th Anniversary Summer Season at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, NY, with two public workshops and a Q&A offering audiences an exclusive first look at the process behind the production on July 26 - 27.
Following two weeks of studio work in New York City in June, the artists behind BalletCollective's Fall 2025 commissions will also move to the Hudson Valley for the group's 11th summer residency in the region, for which major studio and theatrical support is provided by Wethersfield Estate & Garden, Millbrook School, and Dutchess Day School. That time will culminate at Millbrook School on July 25 - 26 with two performances of the new ballets-in-progress. During its time in the Hudson Valley, BalletCollective will host several complimentary movement classes in the unparalleled setting of the Wethersfield Garden, known to be one of the finest classical gardens in the country.
BalletCollective is also an official participant of Upstate Art Weekend 2025, and will host a free version of its signature event, Live Choreography-at which Schumacher makes a ballet on the spot on two New York City Ballet dancers to a musical suggestion from the audience-at 2 PM on Sunday, July 20. The event is presented by Willow Dance Center and will take place at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center. A complimentary ballet class teaching both technique and excerpts from BalletCollective's repertory will take place earlier that same day at Willow Dance Center.
BalletCollective will present its 13th Fall Season, ECHOES OF THE UNSEEN, from October 28 - October 31 at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan. Highly anticipated new works by Alysa Pires and Chloe Crenshaw-the first time BalletCollective has ever awarded its annual Commission for
Developing Choreographers to two recipients in one year-will accompany a revival of Natural History (2020) in the latter's first presentation in a theatrical setting, following its inception as the first one-act ballet to premiere in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. Natural History, with choreography by Troy Schumacher, music by Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and Source Art by commissioned poet Carey McHugh, was initially choreographed on dancers from New York City Ballet and the Martha Graham Dance Company and will be performed by members from both casts of BalletCollective's 2025 commissions. Metropolis Ensemble will accompany it and Nicky Sohn's new composition for Pires' ballet each evening, while 7038634357 will perform their commissioned score for Crenshaw's piece.
"As I was watching the work of the 170+ applicants for our 2025 Commission for Developing Choreographers, Alysa Pires stood out not just for the inventive physicality of her work, but for her personal desire to grow, challenge herself, and to seek out new forms of expression. During our selection process, we intended to choose a single choreographer, but I couldn't resist the desire to support Chloe Crenshaw's voice and potential and worked hard to provide additional resources to make BalletCollective's first-ever second commission possible," shares Schumacher. "Both choreographers are engaging with this year's curatorial concept, ECHOES OF THE UNSEEN... how one might sense or be affected by miniscule moments, elements, or experiences that manifest in lasting, delayed, and magnified ways."
Having sold out its last three Fall Seasons even after adding performance dates to meet demand, BalletCollective will be able to utilize the immense scale of the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan to make the new works accessible to a larger group than ever. Amid this growth, BalletCollective remains committed to maintaining the personal scale that has become the group's signature. Tickets will continue to start at just $25, making the Fall Season a unique opportunity to experience some of the most innovative new choreography and music in New York City, performed by its best artists, in a setting unlike any other.
"This marks a major milestone for BalletCollective," adds Karin Day Kingsley, Chair of the BalletCollective Board of Directors, "but launching a second season is not just a testament to our growth. It reflects a deepening of our commitment to supporting artists year-round and giving audiences more opportunities to engage with bold, boundary-pushing new work. It's a thrilling evolution for BalletCollective, and we're just getting started."
BalletCollective's programs are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The creation of The Woods was made possible, in part, through a leadership gift from Stephen Kroll Reidy.
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