An American company crossing the pond for the first time, festivals centering Asian dancemakers, premieres responding to colonization, transgender identity, audience relationships, and more—the performance landscape over the next two months is overflowing with possibility. Here’s what’s at the top of our lists.

Unexpected collaborations, women-led ballets, superstar choreographers turning their talents to opera and musical theater, singular dancemakers wrestling with issues of labor, environmental justice, and more—here’s what our contributors are looking forward to most as the 2023–24 season gets underway.

I’m glad I have dance; it’s the constant. It’s the lens through which I experience everything else. It’s simply the most interesting thing I’ve ever chosen to do.

“People think being nonbinary is like this third gender, but it’s anything but. My nonbinary identity is an outright rejection of the concept of gender as a whole.”

What happens when a dance festival is set to celebrate a landmark anniversary, but a global pandemic has other plans? Chicago’s Rhythm World, the oldest tap festival in the country, should have enjoyed its 30th iteration last summer. Disrupted by COVID-19, it was quickly reimagined for virtual spaces with a blend of recorded and livestreamed […]

It’s always been difficult for independent dance artists to gain traction, since they often exist outside of more secure infrastructures provided by full-time companies. They are used to rejection, injury and the usual career interrupters. But to be COVID-canceled is especially harsh, since it’s totally out of an artist’s control. And it’s particularly disappointing when […]

We know there are certain things dancers can do pre-show to help them perform at their best. (Like warming up, eating something energizing and maybe even taking a nap!) But pre-show routines are also highly individual, and involve artists preparing their heads for performance just as much as their bodies. That could mean anything from […]

Our favorite dancers didn’t step onstage for the first time as fully formed artists. Like any performer, they dedicated years to their training. But looking back at videos from pro dancers’ tween and teen years, you can see that, even then, they had an undeniable spark—their technique was gaining finesse or their creative gears were […]