The Joyce Theater Announces Fall 2012/Spring 2013 Season: Parsons Dance, Ballet Next and More

The Joyce Theater (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) announced today the programming for its Fall ‘12/Winter ‘13 Season.

Ms. Shelton said, “The upcoming season embraces an eclectic mix of superb artists.  I am pleased that the roster features companies who have performed at The Joyce and now return with new work, as well as companies making their Joyce debuts.”  

The season opens on September 18 with Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca, the dancers and musicians from Spain who performed to sold-out Joyce audiences last fall.  Following their two-week run, the season continues with Doug Varone & Dancers, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, andParsons Dance, New York-based contemporary dance companies who have appeared at The Joyce for many years and now come back with world premieres.  Returning companies also includePhiladanco,Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, , Morphoses, and BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, all of whom will perform New York premieres.  Also on tap is Ballet Next, the new classical ballet company founded by former American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet luminaries Michele Wiles and Charles Askegard.  And speaking of ballet, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the brilliant and beloved all-male troupe, will take the Joyce stage for a three-week run during the holiday season.  FOCUS DANCE, an exciting week-long celebration of American choreography, will highlight the work of eight companies. 

Making their Joyce debuts will be Kidd Pivot, the sensational company led by former Frankfurt Ballet dancer Crystal Pite, whose work fuses classical dance with a strong theatrical sensibility, and Russell Maliphant, who performs the U.S. premiere of The Rodin Project, a piece inspired by the works of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

The following is a complete roster of companies who will be appearing at The Joyce Theater this fall/winter.

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

September 18 – 30

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, September 19     

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

Bessie Award winner Soledad Barrio, heralded by The New York Times as “one of today’s great dancers of any genre,” and her company Noche Flamenca played to sold out houses last year at The Joyce.  This season, they return with a New York premiere and a two week engagement,  giving audiences even more chances to experience these astounding artists deliver flamenco in its most authentic and glorious form, one that creates fierce and haunting work through the vivid interplay of palmas, song, guitar, and dance. 

Philadanco

October 2 – 7

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, October 3

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Joan Myers Brown, (215) 387-8200

Founded by the esteemed Joan Myers Brown in 1970, Philadanco, a Joyce favorite, performs a characteristically rousing program that includes a world premiere by the magnificent Matthew Rushing and the New York premiere of Wake Up, created by North Philly’s own celebrated choreographer Rennie Harris.  This intricate, propulsive work seeks to define Hip Hop from its birth to its profound impact on the communities from which it sprung.

Doug Varone & Dancers

October 9 – 14

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, October 10

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Jennifer Lerner, (212) 486-7229

Whether creating whirlwinds of movement that dazzle with complexity or tracing the interior landscape of terse gesture, Doug Varone places indelible humanity at the core of his work.  For its 25th Anniversary season, the company will perform the New York premiere of Oratorio, set to Mozart’s mythic oratorio La Betulia Liberata, as well as another new work.  The season also includesBoats Leaving, Varone’s 2006 Bessie Award winning work; Ballet Mécanique, which he set to George Antheil’s iconoclastic score from 1925, and his hallmark solo, Nocturne.

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

October 16 – 21

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, October 17

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

“Simply breathtaking,” proclaims the Chicago Sun Times about Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, whose Joyce season features a new program of contemporary ballet that exemplifies its commitment to commissioning dance by both world-renowned and emerging choreographers.  Born in the American West and now touring internationally, this tiny troupe of eleven classically trained dancers has developed a large following worldwide.  The Joyce program includes the New York debut of choreographic discovery Norbert De La Cruz III’s ballet Square None, as well as a new piece, commissioned by The Joyce, by Spanish choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, and OVER GLOW by Jorma Elo.

Ballet next

October 23 – 28

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Opening Night Benefit: Tuesday, October 23

For benefit tickets, call 212-203-0409

Dance Chat: Wednesday, October 24

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Jennifer Lerner, (212) 486-7229

After last season’s sold out gala performance, Ballet Next—the new classical ballet company founded by former American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet luminaries Michele Wiles and Charles Askegard—returns to The Joyce for its first week-long run.  The acclaimed dancers perform two programs that feature classical works by Petipa and Balanchine and highly-anticipated contemporary premieres by choreographers Margo Sappington and Brian Reeder.  Another highlight is Ballet Next’s original work La Follia, created by Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, with performances by renowned dancers from major companies, including New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.  The Ballet Next Ensemble will accompany the dancers with live music led by acclaimed Israeli cellist Elad Kabilio.

BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal

October 30 – November 4

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, October 31

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

BJM - Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal takes on the sounds, rhythms, and music of the city in Night Box, its high-voltage new piece by provocative choreographer Wen Wei Wang.  Combining contemporary ballet with street dance, Night Box explores love, loss, sexuality, and joy.  The work is “brilliantly theatrical, in turns witty, poignant and unsettling.” (The National Post) Wen Wei Wang collaborates with Montréal fashion design duo UNTTLD to reveal the full spectrum of the city at night—its private spaces, clubs, and streets—against a backdrop of darkness that bathes these spaces in light to evoke a refreshing perspective inspired by urban street life.  The program also includes a new work by internationally acclaimed choreographer Barak Marshall, and Zero in On by Cayetano Soto, an innovative piece highlighting the Spanish choreographer’s energetic style.

Morphoses

WITHIN (Labyrinth Within)

November 7 – 11

Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Thursday, November 8

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Lourdes Lopez, (212) 813-9818

Morphoses returns to The Joyce with the New York premiere of WITHIN (Labyrinth Within) by Swedish choreographer and filmmaker Pontus Lidberg that is inspired by and expands on Lidberg’s award winning 2010 film “Labyrinth Within.”  Playing with perceptions of reality by weaving together film, live performance, interconnected relationships, and music by David Lang, Lidberg creates a mysterious and powerful experience.  On stage is a cast of five dancers, including New York City Ballet’s Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring, who gradually relinquish performance space to the filmed images of Wendy Whelan, Giovanni Bucchieri, and Lidberg himself.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

November 13 – 25

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, November 14

No performance on Thanksgiving, Nov 22

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Michael J. Moore, (212) 777-7771

“Explosive energy, ferocious technique, and eye-watering hyper flexibility,” proclaims The New Zealand Herald about Complexions Contemporary Ballet, whose celebrated dancers, innovative works, and pioneering spirit have made it a leader in American contemporary ballet.  For its Joyce season, the company performs three New York premieres, including a work set to Rockjazz virtuoso ELEW that features unique renditions of songs by the Foo Fighters and Linkin Park; Threshold, set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1; and a duet set to music by New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton.  Also on tap—repertory favorites like Testament, On Holiday, and a new production of Pretty Gritty Suite, set to the music of Nina Simone.

Kidd Pivot

The Tempest Replica

November 28 – December 2

Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Thursday, November 29

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

Grabbing well-deserved international attention, former Ballet Frankfurt dancer Crystal Pite fuses classical dance with structured improvisation and a strong theatrical sensibility.  In The Tempest Replica, she uses the island setting of Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a metaphor for isolation, captivity, and desire. She juxtaposes this setting to a nostalgic cityscape that evokes longing.  This is an intriguing work in which chalk-white replicas deliver the story’s essential plot, while its underlying tensions are fleshed out by real characters who articulate powerful emotion through dance. 

Russell Maliphant

The Rodin Project

December 4 – 9

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, December 5

Tickets: $10-$49 (Joyce Members $37; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

Following his Olivier Award-nominated and Critics’ Circle National Dance Award-winningAfterLight, Russell Maliphant comes to The Joyce with The Rodin Project, a Sadler’s Wells/Russell Maliphant production inspired by the works of the great French sculptor, Auguste Rodin.  For this work, Maliphant draws on the high energy talents of extraordinary performers and a commissioned score by Russian composer Alexander Zekke to create a movement vocabulary influenced by popping, breaking, and contemporary dance, which he integrates with his own language of flow, form, and dynamics.  “Dancing bodies rarely look more beautiful than in the work of Russell Maliphant,” proclaims The Guardian, and The Rodin Project is no exception.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

December 18 – January 6

PROGRAM A:

Swan Lake Act II, Pas de Deux to be announced, Go For Barocco, Laurencia

Dec 18-19, Jan 2 at 7:30pm

Dec 27-29, Jan 3-4 at 8pm

Dec 29-30 at 3pm

PROGRAM B:

Les Sylphides, Pas de Deux to be announced, Le Grand Pas de Quatre, Paquita

Dec 20-22, Jan 5 at 8pm

Dec 22-23, 26, Jan 5-6 at 3pm

Dec 26 at 7:30pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, December 19

No performance on Dec 25 and Jan 1

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Richard Kornberg & Associates, (212) 944-9444

Take the chill out of winter with the Trocks, the all-male troupe whose brilliant pointe work and hilarious parodying produce paroxysms of giggles and wild applause throughout the world.  A highlight of the company’s Joyce season is the New York premiere of an excerpt from the final act ofLaurencia, a 1939 piece about a peasant revolution, originally choreographed by Vakhtang Chabukiani.  The programs also feature favorites like Paquita and Go For Barocco, and a star turn by prima ballerina Ida Nevasayneva (aka Paul Ghiselin), whose “Dying Swan, with its molting feathers and funky chicken interpolations, may well by now have eclipsed Anna Pavlova’s original.” Chicago Tribune

FOCUS DANCE

January 8 – 13

Tue 7:30pm & Sun 2pm

Jodi Melnick / Stephen Petronio Company

Wed & Sun 7:30pm

Camille A. Brown & Dancers / Brian Brooks Moving Company

Thu & Sat 8pm

Rosie Hererra Dance Theater / Doug Varone & Dancers

Fri 8pm & Sat 2pm

Eiko & Koma / John Jasperse

Tickets: $10-$39 (Joyce Members $29; $19)

Publicity Contact: Michelle Tabnick, (646) 765-4773

An exciting week-long celebration, now in its second season, FOCUS DANCE is a partnership between Gotham Arts Exchange and The Joyce Theater that promotes American dance to the national and international community.  This year’s curator, Jodee Nimericheter of the American Dance Festival has assembled four programs featuring some of the most captivating companies performing today.

Parsons Dance

January 15 – 27

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 1pm & 5pm

Dance Chat: Wednesday, January 16

Tickets: $10-$59 (Joyce Members $44; $26)

Publicity Contact: Michelle Tabnick, (646) 765-4773

“One of modern dance’s greatest living dance-makers” (New York Magazine), David Parsons brings Parsons Dance back to The Joyce with a program that includes two world premieres.  David Parsons will debut a new work set to music by contemporary American folk artists.  Katarzyna Skarpetowska, last season’s guest choreographer and former Parsons’ dancer, will explore her Polish romantic roots in a piece featuring the music of Poland’s greatest composer, Frédéric Chopin.  The program also includes the Mozart-inspired work, Wolfgang and David Parsons’ stroboscopic masterwork, Caught.

DANCE CHATS

The Joyce Theater holds free post-performance dialogues with artistic directors and/or company members following the performance on the first Wednesday of each company’s engagement unless otherwise noted.  These dialogues are open to all audience members attending that evening’s performance.

FAMILY MATINEES

Created to help build dance audiences for the future, The Joyce’s popular family-oriented performance series will return this fall with three family-friendly matinees, each followed by a special chance to meet the artists.  Kids’ tickets are only $10.  Children who see two of the three family matinees automatically become Joyce Junior Members and save 40% on the price of their tickets ($10 reduced to $6).  Children, ages 6-14, must be accompanied by an adult (maximum four kids to one grownup).  Joyce Junior Members get a special “Backstage-at-the-Joyce” tour, a T-shirt and gift coupons.

This fall/winter season’s Family Matinee series is as follows (Kids (ages 6-14) must be accompanied by an adult):

§     Philadanco – Saturday, October 6 at 2pm

§     Rebecca Stenn Company* – Saturday, December 8 at 2pm, Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer St.)

§     Parsons Dance –  Saturday, January 26 at 2pm

* Rebecca Stenn Companyarrives at Joyce SoHo with a cast of dancers of all ages – a ten year old, a twenty year old, a forty year old, and a senior – to explore the dancing body in all its beauty, throughout a lifetime.  Music will range from Chopin to Hip Hop and will include live music performed by bass player Jay Weissman and others.  Audience members of all ages are invited to experience this generation of movers by joining them onstage.

DANCE TALKS AT JOYCE SOHO

The Joyce Theater will continue its popular “Dance Talks” series in the fall.  These conversations between artists and audiences – moderated by dance scholars, writers, artists and other experts in the field – provide an informal, but in-depth examination of issues shaping dance today.  The following are scheduled for the Fall ‘12/Winter ‘13 Season:

Kidd Pivot – November 12

Russell Maliphant – November 26

“Dance Talks” are free and take place at Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer St., between Houston & Prince).  Reservations are required and can be arranged by calling (646) 792-8377.

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community and its audiences since 1982.  The founders, Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea, which opened as The Joyce Theater in 1982. The Joyce is named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz.  It was LuEsther’s clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to establish the theater.  One of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant New York home for more than 300 domestic and international companies.  The Joyce has also commissioned more than 130 new dances since 1992.  In 1996, The Joyce created Joyce SoHo, a dance center providing highly subsidized rehearsal and performance space to hundreds of dance artists.  New York City public school students and teachers annually benefit from The Joyce’s Dance Education Program, and adult audiences get closer to dance through pre-engagement Dance Talks and post-performance “Dance Chat” discussions.  The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000. 

TICKET PRICES AND MEMBER INFORMATION

To become a Joyce Member, ticket buyers simply purchase tickets to four different companies at the same time and they automatically save 25% on tickets (not applicable for $10 or $19 tickets).  Joyce Members are entitled to the 25% discount on additional tickets purchased throughout the season – until August 2013.  For more information on becoming a Joyce Member, please visit www.Joyce.orgor call JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Single ticket prices range from $10-$59.  Tickets can be purchased by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800, in person at the Box Office (Monday - Friday 12-6pm), or online by visiting www.Joyce.org.  Please note: ticket prices are subject to change.  The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street).