Dance: Spring Arts Preview 2015

The Kennedy Center presents several august classical companies, foremost among them the Royal Ballet. Wolf Trap welcomes two dancers, with two choreographers, known from their very current work on reality TV. And American University’s Katzen Arts Center hosts a local company taking belly dancing seriously as an art form. Certainly there’s a breadth to this season’s dance offerings, also including several local gay choreographers: Christopher K. Morgan at the American Dance Institute, Daniel Phoenix Singh at Dance Place and Shawn Short at the Jack Guidone Theater. Time to belly up and bust a move.

THE ALDEN

McLean Community Center
1234 Ingleside Ave.
Mclean, Va.
703-790-0123
aldentheatre.org

• Pilobolus — Whimsical, innovative dance company with a vocabulary all its own offers a performance in the Alden’s intimate space (4/17)

AMERICAN DANCE INSTITUTE

1501 East Jefferson St.
Rockville, Md.
301-984-3003
americandance.org

• David Neumann — Part of the ADI Incubator series, I Understand Everything Better is a multi-disciplinary performance piece composed of elements drawn from classical Japanese dance and theater (3/27-28)
• Urban Bush Women — Walking with ‘Trane, Chapter 2 — Part of a suite of works based on the life and influence of jazz pioneer John Coltrane, this edition focuses on Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme, developed with musician George Caldwell (4/17-18)
• Joanna Kotze — The 2013 Bessie Award winner for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer gets the ADI Incubator treatment with Find Yourself Here, comprised of three separate trios featuring two dancers and one visual artist (4/24-25)
• Remy Charlip: Air Mail Dances — Jodi Melnick and Runqiao Du co-create four pieces in this project intended to highlight the universality of Charlip’s work (5/8-9)
• Christopher K. Morgan & Artists — The local gay choreographer reprises his first evening-length work Limited Visibility, a suite of dances in which he and his company reveal through movement things about themselves they usually keep private (5/29-30)

ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

1333 H St. NE
202-399-7993
atlasarts.org

• Helanius J. Wilkins & Eric Rebollar/Rebollar Dance — Award-winning choreographers join forces for an evening of dynamic contemporary dance that pushes boundaries and the Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble performs a work-in-progress of Wilkins’s, Turning Tables (4/11)
• Kalanidhi Dance: Chitra Kalyandurg — Kalyandurg performs Leela: Play of the Divine, rooted in Indian myth, accompanied by an ensemble of musicians (4/24)
• The Princess Mhoon Dance Project — The DC Jazz Festival co-presents In Jazz We Trust: Music in Motion, an evening of dance works exploring the rich tradition of jazz (6/14)

BALLET NOVA

3443 Carlin Springs Rd.
Falls Church, Va.
703-778-3008
balletnova.org

• Spring Repertory Performance — Founded over three decades ago as the Center Dance Company, this Virginia troupe offers its artistic director Nancie Woods’s take on the Fokine/Stravinsky classic in a “Firebird and Other Works” program that also includes a guest appearance by GinDance Company (5/1-3, Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre, Arlington)
• Artist-in-Residence Showcase — Performances by Chamber Dance Project, GinDance Company, Karen Reedy Dance, DanceArtTheater and Synetic Theater (4/18)
• World Dance Showcase (5/9)
• Year-end Student Performance (6/7)
• In-Studio Youth and Teen Performance (6/13)
• In-Studio Adult Performance (6/19)

BALTIMORE THEATRE PROJECT

45 West Preston St.
Baltimore, Md.
410-752-8558
theatreproject.org

• Deep Vision Dance Company: Flux — A series of works capturing the ever-changing nature of human desire, emotion and ambition by various Baltimore-based collaborators including Jamahl Abdul, Tim Nohe and the company’s own Nicole A. Martinell (4/24-26)
• The Collective w/ClancyWorks Dance Company — [re]wired offers a collection of dance works re-examining perspective and re-energizing the spirit through innovative approaches to contemporary dance from these two companies (4/30-5/3)

CHAMBER DANCE PROJECT

Lansburgh Theatre
450 7th St. NW
202-499-2297
chamberdance.org

• Earning a warm welcome from the Washington Post after relocating to D.C. last year, this contemporary dance company, founded by Diane Coburn Bruning in New York, settles into a year at the Lansburgh Theatre with two repertory programs featuring seven solo dancers accompanied by a live string quartet(4/24-28)

CITYDANCE

202-347-3909
citydance.net

• Gallim Dance — Israeli contemporary dance from a Brooklyn-based company, led by Guggenheim Fellow Andrea Miller, co-presented by Washington Performing Arts (4/16-17, Lansburgh Theatre) 
• Dreamscape 2015 — Annual dance spectacular benefiting CityDance’s Dream student program (5/9, Lincoln Theatre)
• Dream Year-End Celebration — Dream students perform in a culminating celebration (5/10, Lincoln)
•  Conservatory Concert — Dancers perform innovative and original work by the school’s world-class teaching faculty (6/13, Strathmore)
• Children & Youth Concert — Students showcase talent and artistry in a performance inspired by Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf (6/14)

THE CLARICE

University of Maryland
College Park, Md.
301-405-ARTS
theclarice.umd.edu

• Mayuri 2015 — Now in its third year, this campus classical Indian dance competition features eight teams from across the nation and benefits an American charity helping an eye care hospital in India (3/28)
• Shared Graduate Dance Concert (4/10, 4/12)
• UMOVES: Undergraduate Dance Concert (4/24-26)
• Delta Chi Xi Honorary Dance Fraternity Conference — A conference featuring master classes in various dance styles, from Bollywood to salsa to hip-hop, and culminating in a benefit showcase for the DCX Scholarship Fund (5/29-31)

DANCE PLACE

3225 8th St. NE
202-269-1600
danceplace.org

• Adriane Fang & Gesel Mason Performance Projects — D.C.-based choreographer Adriane Fang collaborates with Wally Cardona and Jodi Melnick on new works, plus the Colorado-based Gesel Mason presents two house music-centric pieces, one exploring the evolution of twerking (3/28-29)
• CoCO Dance Theatre — Led by Cynthia Oliver, the Illinois-based company presents Boom!, a duet with Leslie Cuyjet exploring black femininities, gender and racial dynamics and life’s contradictions (4/4)
• Karen Reedy Dance & Project. B. — D.C.-based company takes inspiration from birds to explore aviation, migration and the human form as it flies, joined by a San Francisco-based contemporary dance company debuting Tanya Bello’s Sol y Sombra, a series of vignettes and interludes that present a dialogue between the dancer and reality (4/11-12)
• Rosy Simas — We Wait in the Darkness is a new solo work by this Native-American contemporary choreographer, offering a journey of displacement and homecoming through an otherworldly environment of film and sound created with French composer François Richomme (4/18-19)
• Fieldwork Showing — A works-in-progress showing from all artistic disciplines and points of views through this “test audience” workshop structure program of The Field (4/22)
• Rennie Harris RHAW — Philadelphia-based company presents the full-length dance musical LOV American-Style, inspired by classic rock and showcasing the company’s signature style of street and hip-hop dance (4/25-26)
• Dance Place’s NEXTgeneration Showcase — The talents of Dance Place’s Kids on the Move students and Coyaba Academy’s students in African, ballet, tap, hip-hop and more (5/2, Hartke Theatre at Catholic University of America)
• Dakshina / Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company — Inspired by a poetry anthology, Persistent Voices combines poignant choreography, thought-provoking poetry and evocative visual designs to explore the effect of AIDS in our lives (5/2-3)
• Dance Place Step Team — The family-friendly, all-ages “Step It Up DC” offers special step workshops and an informal performance (5/9)
• BodyCartography Project — A radical ecological melodrama from Minneapolis-based artists Olive Bierings and Otto Ramstad working with composer Zeena Parkins and visual artist Emmett Ramstad (5/16-17)
• DanceAfrica, DC 2015 — The 28th annual festival celebrating the dance and music of the African diaspora features African dance companies from throughout the region, plus a master class series and African marketplace (5/26-31)
• Word Dance Theater — Inspired by the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan, this company creates original and dynamic productions testing artistic boundaries dividing dance, music, theater and overall production (6/13-14)
• New Releases Choreographers Showcase — Dance Place’s annually curated event of some of the best new works by both established and emerging artists alike (6/20)
• Furia Flamenca — Choreographer Estela Velez de Paradez, composer/musician Guillermo-Juan Christie and Middle Eastern dancer Yillah Natalie offer an expanded version of a 2014 Intersections Festival, complete with string and percussion ensemble, exploring the birth of the gypsy dance form flamenco in Granada, Spain (8/1-2)
• Energizers Creative Arts Camp Concert 2015 — Showcasing the talent of students after a seven-week dance camp (8/13-14)

DISSONANCE DANCE THEATRE

The Jack Guidone Theater
Joy of Motion Dance Center
5207 Wisconsin Ave. NW
202-540-8338
ddtdc.org

• Black to Silver: A Black LGBT Experience — A multidisciplinary arts production examining and exploring experiences and issues in the gay black community. In its third year, this festival draws inspiration from the common themes of homo eroticism, acceptance and affirmation in the work of James Baldwin (4/11-12)

HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Ira Aldridge Theater
2455 6th St. NW
202-806-7700
coas.howard.edu/theatrearts

• Annual Spring Dance Concert — A dynamic and diverse program of dance works by nationally renowned guest artists and Howard University faculty members, performed by graduating dance students (4/10-11)

JANE FRANKLIN DANCE

703-933-1111
janefranklin.com

• Zip Through A Tight Space — Annual benefit offers an evening of live performances including a new inter-generational dance work performed by former company members and their young children, plus another from Forty+, a group of performers of a certain age (5/20, Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall & Arts Center, Alexandria)

JOE’S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM

3309 Bunker Hill Rd.
Mt. Rainier, Md.
301-699-1819
joesmovement.org

• VF Dance Theater — Preposition: A Circus Between the Times combines dance, aerial performance and clowning in a collaboration among the company, aerialists Mark Harding and Darin Sellers, and clowns Kolleen and Bobby Kintz (5/23)

JOY OF MOTION

202-399-6763
joyofmotion.org

• Winter Studio to Stage — Students in Adult Dance Program culminate their studies in this performance (3/28-29, Jack Guidone Theater, 5207 Wisconsin Ave. NW)
• Soles of Steel — National Cherry Blossom Festival performance (4/6, Tidal Basin)
• Dissonance Dance Theatre (4/11-12, Guidone)
• AU in Motion — American University’s student-run, student-choreographed and student-danced club offers Don’t Stop The Music (4/18-19, Guidone)
• Tappenstance — Organization’s adult dance company works to maintain and expand the art of tap dancing (4/25-26, Guidone)
• Nootana — Utsav: Celebrating Innovation is the third annual spring showcase of this all-volunteer Indian classical ensemble performing both dance and music from the subcontinent (5/2, Guidone)
• H.Y.P.E. in Concert — A program exposing the history, technique and discipline of various street dance forms (5/9, Greenberg Theatre, 4200 Wisconsin Ave. NW)
• Youth Dance Ensemble — A concert by students in a pre-collegiate program (5/16, Greenberg)
• Spring Studio to Stage (6/20-21, Guidone)
• Percussive Dance Project — Part of the center’s annual choreography series, introducing innovative works in tap, flamenco, step and more (7/18, Guidone)

KATZEN ARTS CENTER

American University
Greenberg Theatre
4200 Wisconsin Ave. NW
202-885-2587
american.edu

• Spring Dance Concert: At Close Range — Dance students perform new works by guest artists Rachel Endos and Helanius J. Wilkins, plus AU faculty and other students (4/10-11)
• Sahara Dance — D.C.’s Center for Middle Eastern Dance offers the 13th anniversary of its program Under a Desert Moon: A Belly Dance Spectacular (4/25)

KENNEDY CENTER

202-467-4600
kennedy-center.org

• American Ballet Theatre — Renowned company returns for its annual Kennedy Center engagement performing the romantic Cinderella as part of a program also including Balanchine’s Theme & Variations (Now-3/29)
• Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, Michela Lucenti — Leonardo da Vinci gets examined under stage lights with a one-act play by renowned Italian director and actor Flory, preceded by Lucenti’s contemporary ballet featuring two dancers inspired by one of da Vinci’s most famous images, Vitruvian Man (4/2)
• New York City Ballet — Company offers two programs, 20th Century Classics featuring three of Balanchine’s most iconic ballets, and 21st Century Choreographers including works by Peck, Ratmansky, Martins and Wheeldon (4/7-12)
• Mark Rooney w/UpRooted Dance — A performance of Reaction by this Taiko drummer and innovative dance troupe, first staged at Atlas’s Intersections festival and now presented in conjunction with the National Cherry Blossom Festival as part of the free nightly Millennium Stage programming (4/9)
• Tamagawa University Taiko Drumming and Dance Troupe— A free, cherry-blossoms-themed return to the Kennedy Center of this high-energy Taiko drumming and Japanese folkloric dance group, presented on the Millennium Stage (4/10)
• Bowen McCauley Dance — Celebrated local contemporary dance company offers the world premiere of Victory Road featuring the music of country/punk pioneers Jason and the Scorchers (4/10-11)
• Howard University Dance Ensemble — A free Millennium Stage performance (4/13)
• Shen Yun 2015 — The Falun Dafa Association of Washington, D.C. presents this performing arts group’s return to the Opera House with a lavish new production of classical dance and music (4/17-26)
• Scottish Ballet — Company makes its Kennedy Center debut with a bold dance take on Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (5/28-30)
• Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg — Ardani Artists presents the Kennedy Center debut of this Russian company led by visionary choreographer Boris Eifman, in a D.C. premiere of the full-length Rodin, about the artist and his turbulent relationship with his apprentice, mistress and muse Camille Claudel (5/29-31)
• The Royal Ballet — The U.K.’s chief ballet company returns for its first visit in five years with Carlos Acosta’s new full-length Don Quixote (6/9-14)
• Polish National Ballet — The Laurel Fund for the Performing Arts presents a performance of three contemporary ballets by this company, led by internationally renowned choreographer Krzystzof Pastor (6/23-24)

LISNER AUDITORIUM

George Washington University
730 21st St. NW
202-994-6800
lisner.org

• Jessica Lang Dance — CityDance and the Washington Performing Arts co-present this young contemporary ballet company, founded by a woman Dance Magazine calls “a master of visual composition” (3/28)
• Pan American Symphony Orchestra’s Solo Tango — DC Tango Festival presents a “best of tango” concert featuring Argentine tenor Martin de Leon, two bandoneon players, and acclaimed tango dancers (4/25)

PUBLICK PLAYHOUSE

5445 Landover Rd.
Cheverly, Md.
301-277-1710
arts.ppgparks.com

• World Dance Showcase — Popular annual event offers wide-ranging dance traditions performed with vivid costumes (3/28)
• Dallas Black Dance Theatre — An “appealing high energy” company, according to the New York Times, travels from Texas to offer several programs for all ages over a long weekend, from master classes for students, to a “Platinum Series for Seniors 60 & Better,” to a new repertory for a general audience blending modern, jazz, ethnic and spiritual works (4/23-26)

THE WASHINGTON BALLET

202-362-3606
washingtonballet.org

• Swan Lake — Considered by many as the greatest classical ballet of all time, the company takes on this mysterious, lyrical and dramatic ballet accompanied by the Evermay Chamber Orchestra (4/8-12, Kennedy Center)
• Alice (in Wonderland) — A reprise of Septime Webre’s wondrous and magical take on the children’s classic, with puppetry by Eric Van Wyk (5/6-10, 5/16-17, Kennedy Center)
• Tour-de-Force: Serenade — The company’s third gala-style program of classical and contemporary ballets features audience favorites and masterworks from the canon, plus the company premiere of George Balanchine’s iconic work, his first ballet in the U.S. (5/13-15)
• The Sleeping Beauty (5/30-31, THEARC Theater)

WEINBERG CENTER FOR THE ARTS

20 W. Patrick St.
Frederick, Md.
301-600-2828
weinbergcenter.org

• Maryland Regional Ballet — The Frederick School of Classical Ballet performs Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty with guest artists Tricia Albertson and Reyneris Reyes of Miami City Ballet (5/2-3)
• MMPAC Dances On — Dance students of the Mid-Maryland Performing Arts Center perform as part of an annual show also featuring resident company Dance FX (5/16-17)
• Dance Unlimited Recital Showcase (6/14-15)

WOLF TRAP

1645 Trap Road
Vienna, Va.
703-255-1900
wolftrap.org

• Hubbard Street Dance Chicago — Critically acclaimed contemporary troupe fuses jazz, ballet and modern dance (6/24)
• MOVE featuring Derek & Julianne Hough — Dancing with the Stars‘ champion brother-sister duo, an Emmy-winning choreographer and country chart-topper, perform works by So You Think You Can Dance married choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo, known together as Nappytabs (7/3)
• National Ballet of China — The Peony Pavilion tells the story of star-crossed lovers through luscious costumes and poetic staging, performed by this company fusing classical western ballet with traditional Chinese dance as well as its symphony orchestra (7/14)