Dorrance Dance to Return to The Joyce with Two World Premieres This Holiday Season

The Joyce Theater Foundation has announced the return of Dorrance Dance to Chelsea's home for dance. In the company's first appearance since 2019's holiday tap extravaganza The Nutcracker Suite, founder and artistic director Michelle Dorrance helms two world premiere works in collaboration with the women of the Off-Broadway sensation STOMP and musician and company member Aaron Marcellus. The extended two-week engagement will play The Joyce Theater from December 7-18. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street.For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Two worlds of dance, music and theatrical performance collide in a world premiere collaborative work between Dorrance Dance founder and artistic director Michelle Dorrance and the women of the long-running Off-Broadway hit STOMP. With choreography by Dorrance and a body percussion score devised by the performers, the explosive new work is sure to invigorate and electrify Joyce audiences. Former STOMP company members Allison Easter, Kimmarie Elle, Fritzlyn Hector, Stephanie Marshall, and Vickie Tanner are set to perform.

For the evening's second world premiere work, Dorrance looks closer to home for her collaborators. Dorrance Dancecompany member and celebrated vocalist, musician, and composer Aaron Marcellus takes the reins to create and perform live original music with fellow musicians Kyle Everett, Matt Parker, Gregory Richardson. Joining the musicians and founder Michelle Dorrance on stage are dancers Elizabeth Burke, Luke Hickey, Claudia Rahardjanoto, Leonardo Sandoval, and Byron Tittle.

About The Artists

Dorrance Dance

is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company shares the incredibly dynamic range that tap dance has to offer through performance & education. Our goal is to engage with audiences on a musical and emotional level, and to share the complex history and powerful legacy of this American art form throughout the country and the world.

Michelle Dorrance

is a New York City-based artist. Mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble), she was fortunate to study under many of the last master hoofers. Career highlights include: STOMP, Derick Grant's Imagine Tap!, Jason Samuels Smith's Charlie's Angels/Chasing the Bird, Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies, and touring with Darwin Deez. Company work includes: Savion Glover's Ti Dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Co., JazzTap Ensemble, and Rumba Tap. Solo work ranges from "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to commissions for the Martha Graham Dance Company and American Ballet Theatre. A 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, and 2015 MacArthur Fellow, Dorrance is humbled to have been acknowledged and supported by United States Artists, The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, the Alpert Awards, Jacob's Pillow, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Field, American Tap Dance Foundation, and the Bessie Awards. Dorrance holds a B.A. from New York University and is a Capezio Athlete.

Aaron Marcellus

a singer/songwriter, vocal coach, musician, dancer, and actor, was born and raised in Atlanta and has been entertaining crowds around the world for 25+ years. He got his start in gospel music with his first major record deal with the Warner label Word Records. After placing Top 24 on "American Idol" he was sent on a world tour sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces, where he performed for thousands in England, Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Korea, Kuwait, and Japan. Aaron has been featured in a Chapstick commercial, NBC's "Next Caller'' and is a veteran member of New York City's Off-Broadway hit STOMP, as well as supporting lead in National Black Theater's production of Dreaming Zenzile. Marcellus can be found hosting weekly at a local burlesque and live music restaurant Duane Park.' In addition to singing all over New York City, directing showcases, tap dancing, acting, and serving as a vocal coach, Aaron is Founder and Creative Director of The Marcellus Collective and CEO of Surrender To Love, a foundation that financially supports music & arts programs and feeds hungry bellies.

About The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for almost four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Art Center, and to outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances - both digital and in-person - for audiences in excess of 150,000.

The Joyce Theater presents the return of Dorrance Dance in an evening of world premiere works from December 8-17. The performance schedule for Week One is as follows: Wed 7:30pm, Thu-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm & 7:30pm. The performance schedule for Week Two is as follows: Tue-Wed 7:30pm, Thu-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$75, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.

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