Whether you’re a longtime movement enthusiast or curious newcomer, the metro area’s exploding dance scene is bound to have something – very many things – up its collective sleeve to tempt you in these coming weeks and months. The Washington Ballet offers a spooky Halloween thrill with Dracula, for example, or join Jane Franklin Dance, catering to the kiddie set with The Acoustic Rooster and its barnyard characters Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald. Washington’s dance pros – and visiting artists from far and wide – guarantee a dazzling season to satisfy every conceivable taste.

THE ALDEN

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

New York Stage Originals’ Tap Kids – Eight of the nation’s most talented young tap dancers celebrate American youth culture (1/26/13)
Christopher K. Morgan & Artists – D.C.-based contemporary dance company, led by gay namesake, is The Alden’s resident dance company (4/12-4/13/13)

CITYDANCE

CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda
202-347-3909
citydance.net

Christopher K. Morgan & Artists – The resident professional dance company at Strathmore performs Spiraling in a program that also includes guest performances by the Dance Exchange and CityDance Conservatory (10/27-28)
Hubbard Street 2 & CityDance Conservatory Dancers – Signature repertory from both groups, plus new works by CityDance’s 2012-13 choreographer-in-residence and pieces by Brazilian choreographers Janice Botelho and Alex Neoral (11/2-3)
Erica Rebollar/Rebollar Dance – CityDance, in partnership with CulturalDC’s Mead Theatre Lab Program, presents the piece Space Junk, exploring the dialogue of the body as it negotiates inner and outer space (12/1-2)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

University of Maryland
College Park
301-405-ARTS
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu

Lucky Plush Productions – The Better Half – A dance-theater hybrid based on and poking fun at the film Gaslight, about a villainous husband who tries to drive his wife insane (10/4-5)
Shared Graduate Thesis Concert: Shannon Dooling and Xuejuan Feng (10/18-19)
Maryland Dance Ensemble (11/30-12/1)
Dance Exchange – Straight to the Source, Part 1 & 2 features Dance Exchange’s Cassie Meador and Sarah Levitt collaborating with participants to create movement, text and song drawn from personal stories, current events and physical explorations (12/10-11)
30th Choreographers’ Showcase 2013 (1/26/13)
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company – Leaders of these two famous companies team up for the first time, deconstructing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (2/8-9/13)
Shared Graduate Dance Concert – Program of works by first- and second-year graduate students (2/21-22/13)
Shared Graduate Thesis Concert: Graham Brown and Kwame Opare (3/14-15/13)
Nora Chipaumire – Miriam – Renowned choreographer and dancer creates her first character-driven work exploring the struggles women can face in pursuing their dreams and their own measures of beauty (4/4-6/13)
Maryland Dance Ensemble – Springing from Fantasy (4/18-21/13)

DANCE PLACE

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

EDGEWORKS Dance Theater – Helanius J. Wilkins, founder of this all-male company, performs solo in /CLOSE/R, exploring notions of what is uncomfortable (9/15-16)
Nan Jombang – A family of artists from Indonesia blending performing arts traditions of drumming, dance and martial arts with spirituality and contemporary movement (9/22-23)
Nathan Andary & Tzveta Kassabova – Andary performs a provocative piece combining live and virtual dance while Kassabova, one of Dance Magazine‘s ”Top 25 to Watch” for 2012, offers a mixed program of favorite solos and newly crafted experiments (10/6-7)
Eric Hampton…With Us, Again – Some of D.C.’s most prominent dance companies perform works by this late local choreographer, including Bowen McCauley Dance, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh, DanceSmith, Karen Reedy Dance and Maryland Youth Ballet (10/13-14)
Dance Place’s Fall Gala (10/20)
Da Originalz Hip-Hop Battle (10/27)
DancEthos – Company performs works of talented local choreographers, including Vladimir Angelov, Christopher K. Morgan, Erica Rebollar, Katerina Rodgaard and DancEthos directors Tiffany Haughn and Carolyn Kamrath (11/10-11)
Vincent E. Thomas/VTDance – Shadows is this choreographer’s most stunning and ambitious work to date, a combination of animation, film and humor in collaboration with Phil Davis, Sujan Shrestha and comedian Sampson (11/17-18)
16th Annual Youth Festival (12/1-2)
Human Landscape Dance & Code f.a.d. – American Gods juxtaposes mythology against modern-day fashion designers (12/9-10)
Fieldwork for Mixed Disciplines Fall Showing (12/12)
Coyaba Dance Theater’s Kwanzaa Celebration (12/14-16)
Deep Vision Dance Company & withhart.dance.projects (1/12-13/13)
KanKouran West African Dance Company – Annual performance honoring Martin Luther King Jr. (1/18-19/13)
Stephanie Miracle – Investigating the intersections between ordinary, physical realities and imagined, spiritual or supernatural landscapes (1/26-27/13)
LEVYdance with Sidra Bell Dance New York – A special 10th year celebration of the San Francisco company in collaboration with New York’s Sidra Bell (2/2-3/13)
Step It Up DC – Dance Place Step Team offers dance workshops for the whole family followed by an informal performance (2/8/13)
Brian Sanders’ JUNK (2/9-10/13, Atlas)
Idan Cohen Dance Company – The Israeli choreographer presents an ecstatic work set to Mozart’s solo piano sonatas (2/23-24/13)
Lionel Popkin – Ruth Doesn’t Live Here Anymore questions the cultural idea of ”oriental” dance (3/2-3/13)
ClancyWorks Dance Company – Company is particularly notable for its dynamic partnering work and its ability to combine physically demanding, powerful movement with the sensitive portrayal of cultural nuances and personal emotions (3/9-3/10/13)
Dance Exchange (3/16-17/13)
TAKE Dance – New York company’s Salaryman takes audiences through a day in the life of overworked Japanese executives (3/23-24/13)
Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion – New work inspired by the 1991 film Boyz N The Hood from ”the best and brightest creative talent to emerge in New York City in the age of Obama,” according to Out Magazine (4/6-7/13)
Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company – Local company premieres a reconstruction of Anna Sokolow’s iconic Magritte Magritte along with a new work by gay namesake Singh (4/13-14/13)
Karen Sherman – Minneapolis-based artist Sherman offers One with Others, which uses choreography both desperate and delicate, grappling with desire, communication, humiliation and destiny (4/20-21/13)
REVISION Dance Company – Just Be explores the raw emotions and personal experiences of working with people with disabilities (4/27-28/13)
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble – Colorado dance ensemble that draws from the African-American experience (5/4-5/13)
Arachne Aerial Arts & In-Flight Theater – Two area companies at the forefront of aerial performance join forces to create a bold new piece on the myth of Demeter and Persephone (5/10-11/13)
Christopher K. Morgan & Artists and skybetter and associates – Two contemporary dance companies perform the joint work commissioned by the Kennedy Center’s Local Commissioning Dance Project in addition to works by each company (5/18-19/13)
DanceAfrica DC 2013 – The 26th annual festival celebrating the dance and music of the African Diaspora (6/1-2/13)
Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion – Celebrated local dance educator leads a band of dancers and choreographers creating multi-genre dances to the preludes of Rachmaninoff in Future Preludes (6/22-23/13)
alight dance theater (6/29-30/13)
New Releases Choreographers’ Showcase – Intended as a lab for choreographers to create dances through improvisation and shared critique (7/20-21/13)
Choreographers Collaboration Project (7/27-28/13)
Glade Dance Collective & UpRooted Dance (8/3-4/13)
The Energizers Summer Camp Concert (8/8-9/13)

DAVIS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Georgetown University
3700 O St. NW
202-687-ARTS
performingarts.georgetown.edu

Black Movements Dance Theatre: Fall Performance (11/9-10)
Georgetown University Dance Company: Fall Performance – A high-energy, pre-professional repertory dance ensemble (11/16-17)
Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Georgetown and Ritmo Y Sabor – The annual winter performance celebrates the coming Christmas season with dances from across Mexico (12/6)
Black Movements Dance Theatre: Spring Performance (2/15-16/13)
Georgetown University Dance Company (2/22-23/13)
Groove Theory: One Move, One Groove – 4th annual program from Georgetown’s only coed hip-hop team (3/15/13)
Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Georgetown and Ritmo Y Sabor – 5th annual spring showcase (4/18/13)
Once Wild: Isadora in Russia, a Word Dance Theater co-production – New play brings to life the choreography of Isadora Duncan from her time in Russia nearly a century ago (5/3-5/4/13)

GALA HISPANIC THEATRE

3333 14th St. NW
202-234-7174
galatheatre.org

Teatro Linea de Sombra’s Amarillo – Powerful dance-theater show focuses on a man who vanishes from the U.S.-Mexico border (11/2-3)
Flamenco Fest: Fuego Flamenco VIII – The 8th annual festival includes the U.S. debut of Karen Lugo from Madrid (11/16-18); Spanish Dance Society’s family Flamenco demonstrations (11/24); and the world premiere of Flamenco/Flamenca, by Washington’s Edwin Aparicio and his Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company (11/30-12/2)

JANE FRANKLIN DANCE

703-933-1111
janefranklin.com

Fall Preview – A sampling of moves for the coming year set to music for guitar, cello, mandolin by Mark Sylvester, who’ll perform with cellist Natalie Spehar (9/22, The Athenaeum, Alexandria)
The Big Meow – Adapted from the book by Elizabeth Spires (9/29, Kaleidoscope for Kids at Durant Center, Alexandria; also 2/9/13 and 4/20/13, Theatre on the Run)
The Obstinate Pen – Adapted from the book by Frank Dormer, a humorous story about a pen with a mind of its own, especially meant for children (10/27, Theatre on the Run, Arlington)
Forty+ or Minus (10/27, 2/2/13, 4/20/13 Theatre on the Run)
The Acoustic Rooster – Another book adaptation, this time featuring its author Kwame Alexander, in a tale about a jazz-loving rooster who goes up against Mules Davis’s cool duo and Ella Finchgerald’s singing group in a barnyard talent show (2/2/13, 4/13/13, Theatre on the Run)
Dance Sampler – Jane Franklin Dance organizes a second annual adjudicated showcase of selected dance works by six different choreographers (3/23/13, Woolly Mammoth)

JOE’S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM

3309 Bunker Hill Road
Mount Rainier, Md.
301-699-1819
joesmovement.org

Dance Box Theater – We Are Here, featuring a score by Stephen Clapp, is performed by Clapp and Laura Schandelmeier with guest dance artists Brooke Kidd and Wakili McNeill (9/13-16)
Deviated Theatre – siGHt, first created for the Kennedy Center, is dubbed a ”dance opera” and focused on a ghost-seeing young girl and her unbelieving parents (9/19-10/7)
NonaLeeDance Theatre – Nuclear Quest: Journey to the Core (11/17-18)
24 Hour Dance Project – Jane Franklin Dance presents this showcase of choreographers, dancers and musicians given only 24 hours to create, rehearse and perform new works (12/2)
Youth Class Showcase (12/8)
Arachne Aerial Arts – Aerial works-in-progress featuring the company’s students and other regional aerial artists (12/16)

KENNEDY CENTER

2700 F St. NW
202-467-4600
kennedy-center.org

Company | E – Local company performs on the Millennium Stage as part of the Kennedy Center’s Local Commissioning Dance Project (9/20-21)
Sivam Inc. featuring Priyadarsini Govind and T.M. Krishna – Saayujva offers Bharatanatyam dances and Carnatic vocals (9/23)
7th Annual Korean Art & Soul: Master Park Jai Hee and Master Kook Soo Ho – Dance professor at Cheongji University and Didim Dance Company director perform classical Korean dances as part of this multi-artistic celebration of artists from the Republic of Korea, presented by the Korean American Cultural Arts Foundation (9/29)
Women from Africa: Voices of Strength – A multi-genre, mixed repertory program celebrating the diversity and talent of contemporary African choreographers, featuring Kettly Noel from Haiti/Mali, Nelisiwe Xaba from South Africa, Nadia Beugré from the Ivory Coast, Maria Helena Pinto from Mozambique and Bouchra Ouizguen from Morocco (10/4-5)
Christopher K. Morgan & Artists with Sydney Skybetter & Associates – Local company performs on the Millennium Stage as part of the Kennedy Center’s Local Commissioning Dance Project (10/5-6)
Bayanihan – The National Folk Dance Company of the Philippines – Philippinescape offers five dance suits portraying different aspects of life, history and culture (11/3-4)
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet – Kennedy Center’s resident ballet presents two mixed programs featuring four company premieres by Balanchine (11/7-11)
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company – Internationally renowned New York-based company makes its Kennedy Center debut with what Dance Magazine refers to as ”soothing and reviving” choreography (11/29-30)
JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance – Co-presented by the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (12/7)
Shen Yun Performing Arts – The world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music companies return to the Kennedy Center in a co-presentation by the Falun Dafa Association of Washington, D.C. (1/29-2/3/13)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – America’s cultural ambassador to the world returns to the Kennedy Center for its annual engagement featuring new works and enduring classics (2/5-10/13)
Nordic Cool 2013: Iceland Dance Company – Contemporary dance company offers a mixed-repertory program as part of the Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool 2013 series of programming (2/27/13)
Nordic Cool 2013: Danish Dance Theatre – One of the foremost Scandinavian contemporary dance companies makes its Kennedy Center debut with a piece revolving around a cinema noir universe (3/1-2/13)
Nordic Cool 2013: Carte Blanche – The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance (3/6-7/13)
Nordic Cool 2013: Tero Saarinen Company – Finish company focused on promoting a humane worldview and basic human values through dance makes its Kennedy Center debut (3/12/13)
Nordic Cool 2013: The Goteborg Ballet – The largest modern dance company in the Nordic region, combining classical ballet and contemporary dance (3/15-16/13)
Malavika Sarukkai – Significant player in the Indian classical dance style Bharatanatyam (3/29-30/13)
Monica Bill Barnes & Company – ”One of the wittiest young choreographers around,” according to the Village Voice (5/8-9/13)
Shen Wei Dance Arts – Undivided Divided is a site-specific piece featuring dancers interacting with multimedia, including video and sculpture (5/23-25/13)

MARYLAND COUNCIL FOR DANCE’S STATE DANCE FESTIVAL

Queen Anne County High School on the Eastern Shore
Centreville, Md.
800-422-1782 ext. 7237
marylanddance.org/festival.html

Various dance practitioners lead workshops and perform at this 40th annual festival, featuring all styles of dance, from ballet to tap to hip-hop to Pilates (10/12-14)

NEXT REFLEX DANCE COLLECTIVE

703-927-0073
nextreflexdc.com

Dance On Site Festival – Various choreographers present site-specific work in select locations every hour on the hour from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (11/3-4, outside D.C.’s Chinatown)
en Route! a Touring Dance Project 2013 (1/26/13, Lorton Workhouse Arts Center in Fairfax; 3/23/13, Dogtown Dance Theater in Richmond; 4/19/13, Baltimore Theater Project)
Happenings at The Harman – Next Reflex offers a performance as part of the weekly Wednesday lunchtime schedule inside the Shakespeare Theatre Company complex (2/20/13, Sidney Harman Hall)

STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda
301-581-5100
strathmore.org

Ballet Folklorico de México – The internationally renowned company offers a survey of Mexican dance, from pre-Colombian times to present-day, all, according to the New York Times, in ”a captivating spectacle … the gorgeous costumes and breathtaking formations keep coming, dance after dance” (10/3, Music Center)
Tap Dogs – Olivier Award-winning Australian choreographer Dein Perry’s creation, part theater, part rock concert and set on a construction site in a steelworks town, is, as Time Out New York puts it, ”a high-voltage hell of a good time” (11/24, Music Center)
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker – Now in its 20th year of touring North America, this cast of 40 astounding dancers relate the classic Christmas story with unique Russian zest (12/16, Music Center)
Flamenco Vivo/Carlo Santana – La Pasion Flamenca returns to Strathmore as a Valentine’s Day gift (2/14/13, Music Center)
Cirque Ziva – New troupe created by the artistic director of the fabled Golden Dragon Acrobats offering gravity-defying acrobatics with sleek, colorful costumes and evocative lighting (3/7/13, Music Center)

VELOCITY DC DANCE FESTIVAL

Harman Hall
610 F St. NW
202-547-1122
ShakespeareTheatre.org

A special partnership between Dance/MetroDC, the Washington Performing Arts Society and host organization the Shakespeare Theatre Company, this festival returns for four days of world-class dance presented in a fast-paced gala format of movement and music, hip-hop and spoken word. ”RAMP!-to-Velocity” precedes each evening program and offers a taste of works in progress or from dance newcomers, including CityDance Conservatory, alight dance theater, American University Dance Company, Flamenco Aparicio and Pastora Flamenco. Also this year each program launches with a site-specific event by either UpRooted Dance Theater or Jane Franklin Dance. Main Stage performances, many of which repeat across the four days of the festival, feature the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, Step Afrika!, EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, Xuejuan Feng, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, CityDance presents Rasta Thomas’ Bad Boys of Dance, Company|E and the Washington Ballet (10/18-21)

THE WASHINGTON BALLET

202-362-3606
washingtonballet.org

Dracula – Michael Pink’s chilling production of the classic kicks off the ballet’s season over Halloween (10/24-11/4, Kennedy Center)
The Nutcracker – The company’s Septime Webre offers his own twist on the family favorite, setting it in D.C. with George Washington as the titular figure and King George III as the Rat King (11/24-25, THEARC; 11/29-12/23, Warner Theatre) L’Amour (Love, Baby) – Three stories about the many aspects of love in a world premiere production (2/13-17/13, Harman Hall)
Stars & Stripes – Balanchine’s exuberantly patriotic piece that lends this program its name is part of a tour-de-force showcase of classical and contemporary dance (2/21-24/13, Harman Hall)
Cinderella – Webre’s adaptation of the classic tale, set to Prokofiev’s score (3/20-24/13, Kennedy Center)
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises Cinderella – Webre offers another world premiere classical adaptation following on his success with last season’s The Great Gatsby (5/8-12/13, Kennedy Center)
Peter and The Wolf – The Washington Ballet Studio Company performs this piece based on the popular Russian children’s story and set to Prokofiev’s world-famous score (5/18-19/13, THE ARC)

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY

202-833-9800
wpas.org

Company | E – Paul Gordon Emerson’s world dance company offers NEXT:SPAIN (11/16-17, Lansburgh Theater)
Ron K. Brown/Evidence – Brooklyn-based choreographer fuses African with contemporary movement and spoken word, and dances, according to The New York Times, ”as if there were no tomorrow” (2/1/13, Lisner Auditorium)