Simmering Summer: What to Look Out For This Festival Season
It’s full steam ahead for festival season across the U.S. and abroad. Here’s what’s to look out for at American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Venice Biennale, Bates Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and ODC Theater’s State of Play this year.
American Dance Festival
DURHAM, NC After kicking off with a Rauschenberg centennial celebration and ADF commissions by Passion Fruit Dance Company, Alejandro Cerrudo, Gerri Houlihan, Norberto “Betto” Herrera, Tanu Sharma, Anna Sperber, and Culture Mill (whose How To Be a Visitor features simultaneous livestreamed solo performers across multiple countries), the festival boasts an equally packed July lineup. Highlights include the ADF debuts of Luke Murphy’s Attic Projects, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Bulareyaung Dance Company, and makegroup (presenting Group Therapy, a dance theater experience by Leah Cox, Kristen Osborn, and George Staib); Kayla Farrish’s The Quake That Held them All, for Limón Dance Company, and Miguel Gutierrez’s Super Nothing (both ADF commissions); and, to close the festival, two shared evenings in which Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Paul Taylor Dance Company swap repertory (Taylor’s Esplanade and Ulysses Dove’s Vespers, respectively) and team up to premiere a new work by Amy Hall Garner. June 12–July 26. americandancefestival.org.
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
BECKET, MA With Jacob’s Pillow back to full presenting capacity for the first time since 2020, the nine-week festival is full to bursting. Of particular note: the premieres of a new work by Jessica Lang for Sarasota Ballet, SeKou McMiller’s Urban Love Suite, and Andrew Schneider’s HERE; Stephen Petronio Company’s final performances; the Pillow debuts of Trinity Irish Dance Company, Elle Sofe Company (its U.S. debut), Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, and Huang Yi; over a dozen other groups making their first festival appearances on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage; and the long-awaited return engagements of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and Eun-Me Ahn (who brings the U.S. premiere of her Dragons to the Duke). June 25–Aug. 24. jacobspillow.org.
Venice Biennale
VENICE The centerpiece of this year’s dance programming is director Wayne McGregor’s “post-cinematic choreographic installation” On the Other Earth, drawing from his stage work Deepstaria and created for viewing via Jeffrey Shaw’s nVis, a 360-degree stereoscopic video screen. More traditional performance offerings include the premieres of Bullyache’s A Good Man is Hard to Find (inspired by the 2008 financial crisis), Tânia Carvalho’s Ventre do Vulcão, Philippe Kratz and Pablo Girolami’s Sisifo felice/Smiling Sisyphus (an evening-length for Florence’s Nuovo Balletto di Toscana), and Marcos Morau’s La Mort i la Primavera; the European premiere of Golden Lion recipient Twyla Tharp’s recent Slacktide; and works by Chunky Move, William Forsythe, Virginie Brunelle, TAO Dance Theater, and more. July 7–Aug. 2. labiennale.org.
Bates Dance Festival
LEWISTON, ME Ragamala Dance Company’s Invisible Cities kicks off this summer’s performance offerings. Then, OzuzuDance premieres the interdisciplinary Space Carcasses, in which Onye Ozuzu investigates the ways bodies can carry past experiences and impressions of the places they’ve been, followed by an evening of short films touching on related themes, curated in partnership with The Flatlands Dance Film Festival. Gesel Mason’s Yes, And will activate the L/A Arts Gallery with a collection of performance experiments that expand on ideas of what Black womanhood can be. And Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company makes its Bates debut with performances of Continuous Replay and D-Man in the Waters. July 11–Aug. 2. batesdancefestival.org.
Vail Dance Festival
VAIL, CO Stars and soon-to-be stars will rub elbows as more than 150 artists perform across the just-under-two-week festival, with casting unlikely to be seen anywhere else. Familiar faces Melissa Toogood (this year’s artist in residence), Michelle Dorrance, Larry Keigwin, Justin Peck, and Bobbi Jene Smith contribute premieres, while Vail choreographic debuts are expected in the form of new works from Robert Battle, Gianna Reisen, and My’Kal Stromile. Also making their festival debuts will be American Ballet Theatre’s Chloe Misseldine and Royal Danish Ballet’s Ryan Tomash. Plus, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, and BalletX each present solo programs. July 25–Aug. 5. vaildance.org.
State of Play
SAN FRANCISCO ODC Theater’s celebration of the creative process boasts an all-femme cohort this year. On tap for the four-day fest are evening-length West Coast premieres by Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein (Deepe Darknesse) and Wanjiru Kamuyu (An Immigrant’s Story); short-form performances from Leila Awadallah, gizeh muñiz vengel, Black Benatar, and Molly Rose-Williams; and showings of works in progress by Kira Fargas, Kimie Parker, and Natalya Shoaf. July 31–Aug. 3. odc.dance.
