Where is the dance field headed next? The dancers, choreographers, directors, and companies on our annual “25 to Watch” list offer heartening, imaginative, exciting possible answers to that question. Whether or not you’re already familiar with these up-and-comers, our editors and contributors from across the dance world predict that we’ll be hearing a lot more from these artists on the verge of a breakout in 2025 and beyond.
Winners of the Dance Magazine Awards, from 1954 to the present
As Mira Nadon stepped onstage for George Balanchine’s “Diamonds” pas de deux at the Kennedy Center in June, I was struck by both her youth and her maturity. At just 23, the New York City Ballet principal was making her debut in a role typically reserved for the company’s senior ballerinas. Yet she was bringing something new and distinctive to her interpretation.
There is an explosive energy to Michael de la Nuez’s dancing that will not be denied. In Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate during American Ballet Theatre’s summer season, he sliced through the air like an arrow and spun like a top, equal parts bravura showstopper and clean classical dancer.
Electric performances, thought-provoking choreography, buzzy bodies of work—the artists on our annual list of dancers, choreographers, directors, and companies poised for a breakout share an uncanny knack for arresting attention. They’ve been turning heads while turning what’s expected—in a performance, from a career trajectory—on its head. We’re betting we’ll be seeing a lot more of them this year, and for many years to come.
Puppets can do things that people can’t, such as move their legs preposterously quickly or fill space 15 or 20 feet above the stage. But they require skilled and agile human bodies to do so, making puppetry and dance a natural pairing.
“It feels strange sometimes,” the Ukrainian dancer Stanislav Olshanskyi, who recently joined Miami City Ballet, says of his new life in Miami. “The weather is always nice, there are iguanas and birds, and I can see water from my apartment.” He pauses for a moment, reflecting on his new life. “And yet it’s the same world where there is a war going on in Ukraine, where bad things happen and people are dying.”
New takes on familiar tales and multigenerational reflections on common struggles seize center stage this month. Here’s what has us intrigued.