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9 Performance Picks at the Top of Our Lists This May and June

April 29, 2025

Premieres, two festivals, major tours, unexpected collaborations—there are more exciting shows happening in the next two months than anyone could hope to keep up with. Here are our top picks.

SF Smorgasbord

Jyotsna Vaideeswaran frames her eyes with her hands as she stands in plié with a beveled foot. She is costumed in flowing blues and purples.
Bharatanatyam artist Jyotsna Vaideeswaran will perform her solo Fearless Women as part of SFIAF. Photo by Aswin Vijay, courtesy SFIAF.

SAN FRANCISCO  Continuing its “IN DIASPORA: I.D. for the New Majority” theme, San Francisco International Arts Festival returns with a bevy of local and international artists. Dance offerings include premieres by Helen Wicks, Jenna Valez’s Pulp, and Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco; the U.S. premieres of the Noh- and Nihon Buyo–inflected my choice, my body and Anchor by Japanese choreographer Ayane Nakagawa; a celebration of Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose’s 45th anniver­sary; and more works spanning bharatanatyam, circus, contemporary dance, flamenco, and kathak. April 30–May 11. sfiaf.org.

Acosta Goes to Washington

One dancer presses another overhead as they walk across the stage. Upstage, a silver winged demon stands atop a silver overturned car. The black backdrop is dotted with a grid of warm lights.
Birmingham Royal Ballet in Black Sabbath: The Ballet. Photo by Johan Persson, courtesy Kennedy Center.

WASHINGTON, DC  Two companies led by Carlos Acosta are slated to make their Kennedy Center debuts. May 1–3, Acosta Danza presents a program titled Cuban Ecléctico, featuring Raúl Reinoso’s Satori, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, Pontus Lidberg’s Paysage, soudain, la nuit, María Rovira’s Impronta, and Alexis Fernández’s De punta a cabo. Then, Birmingham Royal Ballet brings its heavy-metal evening-length, Black Sabbath: The Ballet, featuring choreography by Lidberg, Reinoso­, and Cassi Abranches, June 4–8. kennedy-center.org.

Asian Voices From Angel Island

Five dancers are connected by black stretches of fabric as they perform against a red backdrop.
Oakland Ballet in Ye Feng’s Seascape. Photo by John Hefti, courtesy Oakland Ballet.

OAKLAND, CA  Commissioned in 2020, Huang Ruo’s Angel Island is an oratorio for strings, vocalists, and a narrator inspired by poetry that was carved into the walls of the Angel Island immigration station by detainees in the early 20th century. Now, Oakland Ballet animates that music with the help of seven AAPI choreographers—Natasha Adorlee, Phil Chan, Lawrence Chen, Ye Feng, Elaine Kudo, Ashley Thopiah, and Wei Wang—in the Angel Island Project, premiering May 4 as the centerpiece of this year’s Dancing Moons Festival with live accompaniment by the Del Sol Quartet (who originally commissioned the score) and members of choral ensemble Volti. oaklandballet.org.

Double Duty

Rena Butler looks intently in the studio mirror as she directs a trio of dancers just behind her. Two dancers hold the harms of a third, who balances on one leg and twists his torso.
Rena Butler leading rehearsal with Pacific Northwest Ballet. Photo by Lindsay Thomas, courtesy PNB.

NEW YORK CITY AND SEATTLE  Rena Butler has a pair of premieres on opposite coasts this May. The first, for Parsons Dance, features a score by Darryl J. Hoffman and premieres during the company’s Joyce Theater run (May 13–24), which also features David Parsons’ In The End and Caught and Robert Battle’s The Hunt. The second makes its debut during Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Director’s Choice program (May 30–June 8), appearing alongside Twyla Tharp’s classic Nine Sinatra Songs and Kiyon Ross’ …throes of increasing wonder. joyce.org and pnb.org.

Kinetic Coding

A half dozen dancers, two in wheelchairs, one kneeling, and the others balancing on one leg, cluster together as they pose, energy reaching toward the corner.
AXIS Dance Company. Photo by David DeSilva, courtesy Stanford Live.

STANFORD, CA  How might disability dance and choreorobotics intersect and influence one another as technology continues to evolve? Stanford Live brings together renowned physically integrated troupe AXIS Dance Company with choreographer and roboticist Dr. Catie Cuan for a shared evening of performance, followed by a postshow conversation led by Sydney Skybetter. May 21. live.stanford.edu.

Hofesh at Palais Garnier

Silhouetted dancers push up from the floor into a plank, weight resting on their knees and one forearm. Their downstage arms reach toward the sky, fingers splayed open. The stage is lit by a line of lights upstage, illuminating fog.
Paris Opéra Ballet in Hofesh Shechter’s Uprising. Photo by Julien Benhamou, courtesy Paris Opéra Ballet.

PARIS  Hofesh Shechter crafts an evening-length work for his first commission for Paris Opéra Ballet, whose dancers have previously performed his The Art of Not Looking Back, Uprising, and In your rooms. June 10–July 14. operadeparis.fr.

What About Bob?

Seven dancers in pastel costumes stand in a line across the stage, a stretch of white fabric held up beneath their underarms. A stretch of fabric with colorful and striped rectangles dangles from above.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Travelogue. Photo by Charles Atlas, courtesy Merce Cunningham Trust/Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library.

DURHAM, NC  As part of the celebrations of Robert Rauschenberg’s centennial, Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Trust are teaming up for Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown and Cunningham Onstage. Pairing Brown’s seminal Set and Reset (1983) and Cunningham’s rarely produced Travelogue (1977)—both, of course, featuring designs by Rauschenberg—the program kicks off its national tour with performances at American Dance Festival, which will also feature Paul Taylor Dance Company in Taylor–Rauschenberg collaborations Tracer (1962) and 3 Epitaphs (1956). June 12–13. americandancefestival.org.

Imagining Brighter Futures

jaamil olawale kosoko is lit in blue, chin upraised as they raise their hands in front of them.
jaamil olawale kosoko. Photo by Freddy Koh, courtesy Abrons Arts Center.

NEW YORK CITY  An artificially intelligent being awakens aboard a spacecraft in a near-future galaxy in Voncena’s Spell, a new performance installation by jaamil olawale kosoko. The performance artist asks: “How can we transform the multigenerational legacy of extraction and surveillance into a thriving, abundant coexistence for all?” June 20–22. abronsartscenter.org.

Prismatic Moves

Ten dancers are captured midair, hands raising as though they're being pushed back by a wave of energy. They wear monochrome street clothes and sneakers.
Compagnie Amala Dianor in Level Up. Photo by Pierre Gondard, courtesy Freie Presse.

STUTTGART  Returning for the first time since 2022, COLOURS International Dance Festival kicks off with the premiere of Akram Khan’s Turning of Bones. The choreographer knits together excerpts from existing works—Jungle Book reimagined, iTMOi, DESH, and Mud of Sorrow—with new material and a commissioned score by Aditya Prakash to form a new evening-length for the festival’s host company, Gauthier Dance. Its junior company also gets a premiere, Barker, by Barak Marshall. Choreographers visiting with their own dancers in tow include Hofesh Shechter, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Michelle Dorrance and Ephrat Asherie, Christos Papadopoulos, Botis Seva, Marie Chouinard, Virginie Brunelle, Guillaume Côté, Marco da Silva Ferreira, Amala Dianor, Norge Cedeño Raffo, and Shahar Binyamini. June 26–July 13. coloursdancefestival.com.

Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose acosta danza akram khan Alexis Fernández amala dianor american dance festival Ashley Thopiah axis dance company Ayane Nakagawa barak marshall birmingham royal ballet botis seva carlos acosta cassi abranches catie cuan Christos Papadopoulos colours international dance festival Dancing Moons Festival david parsons Dr. Catie Cuan Elaine Kudo ephrat asherie gauthier dance guillaume cote Guillaume Côté Helen Wicks hofesh shechter Huang Ruo jaamil olawale kosoko Jenna Valez kennedy center kiyon ross Lawrence Chen marco da silva ferreira maria rovira marie chouinard merce cunningham michelle dorrance natasha adorlee Norge Cedeño Raffo Oakland Ballet pacific northwest ballet paris opera ballet parsons dance paul taylor dance company phil chan pontus lidberg Pulp raul reinoso rena butler robert battle robert rauschenberg san francisco international arts festival Shahar Binyamini sidi larbi cherkaoui stanford live sydney skybetter Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco trisha brown twyla tharp virginie brunelle wei wang Ye Feng