Summer dance festival season is heating up across the country—and the pond.

From new works to old traditions, here are four performances we have on our radar. Lost With You Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal’s Vanishing MélodiesSasha Onyshchenko, Courtesy BJM MONTREAL Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal plumbs the songbook of Patrick Watson for its latest creation. Vanishing Mélodies brings to life the memories of a lone woman waiting for a bus, […]

Ballet can distance us from performers. The difficulty of the technique and the elusive artistry can make them seem immortal. But in New York City Center’s Studio 5 Great American Ballerina series, we observe them as down-to-earth and hard-working—willing, by dint of the format, to take criticism and incorporate it, live. And for those viewers […]

Sara Mearns is usually everywhere. If she’s not dancing with her home company, New York City Ballet, she’s working on musical theater projects with her husband Joshua Bergasse, commissioning work from downtown choreographers, embodying modern masters like Cunningham and Duncan, collaborating with hip-hop artists or guesting at the opera. And when she’s not dancing, she’s […]

What a night. The Dance Magazine Awards yesterday at the Ailey Citigroup Theater was jam-packed with love for dance. From legendary icons to early-career choreographers we can’t stop obsessing over, the Dance Magazine Awards, presented by the Dance Media Foundation, recognized a wide spectrum of our field. And with more performances than ever before, the […]

Sara Mearns is a force. There is a monumentality to her dancing that was apparent even as a young corps member of 19, cast in her first Swan Lake with New York City Ballet. She threw herself into the role heart and soul, stretching each shape to the limit, trusting the music to carry her […]

New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns wasn’t sure she was strong enough. A ballerina who has danced many demanding full-length and contemporary roles, she was about to push herself physically more than she thought was possible. “I said, ‘I can’t. My body won’t,’ ” she says. “He told me, ‘Yes, it will.’ ” She […]

Sara Mearns is no longer just a ballerina. Since first stepping outside of New York City Ballet with downtown dancemaker Jodi Melnick in 2015, she’s expanded her rep in some surprising directions. She’s taken on classic modern techniques like Graham, Cunningham and Duncan. She’s created new work with hip-hop duo Wang Ramirez and contemporary choreographers […]