Twyla Tharp Dance, Dorrance Dance and More Slated for The Joyce Theater's 2017-18 Fall & Winter Season; Lineup Announced!

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater, announced today the organization's programming for its 2017-2018 fall/winter season.

Highlights of this extraordinary fall season include presentations by Twyla Tharp Dance and Dorrance Dance. Twyla Tharp continues her career spanning more than five decades with the world premiere of her latest work, DYLAN LOVE SONGS, featuring the music of the legendary Bob Dylan, while tap dancer extraordinaire Michelle Dorrance returns with her company, Dorrance Dance, for another exhilarating romp.

Also on tap this season Compagnie Maguy Marin, led by the provocative French choreographer who, much like Tharp, possesses a distinctive dance aesthetic that has profoundly influenced the generations that follow. Continuing its commitment to bringing international companies to New York, The Joyce welcomes two intriguing French companies, Kader Attou - Compagnie Accrorap and Compagnie Hervé KOUBI, and the return of Finland's Tero Saarinen Company, performing an evening length piece set to music by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In another Joyce debut, Dresden Semperoper Ballett will perform an eclectic program highlighting its combination of classical and contemporary technique. Cuba's Malpaso Dance Company returns to the Joyce with a program featuring the New York premiere of Indomitable Waltz, a recent Joyce commission by Aszure Barton.

Closer to home will be appearances by the New York-based companies Liz Gerring Dance Company, returning with her 2015 creation Horizon which received acclaim for its intricate movement style, and Trisha Brown Dance Company with a program of works from 2000 though 2009, during the final period of Brown's creative life. Also on the roster are Joyce audience favorites Garth Fagan Dance, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Noche Flamenca.

Rounding out the season, in conjunction with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), is The Joyce's annual American Dance Platform. This highly successful Joyce presentation, which began in 2016 to help showcase the wide range of dance being created throughout the U.S. today, returns for the third consecutive year.

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

TWYLA THARP DANCE

September 19 - October 8

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Sep 20

Family Matinee: Sat, Sep 23 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-75 (Joyce Members $38; $56)

From Broadway to Hollywood, television, and American Ballet Theatre, Twyla Tharp has virtually done it all. Lately-and lucky for us-she's been returning to the concert stage with her own troupe of truly stellar dancers, masters of her quicksilver, musical movement. In a program illustrating her unbridled talent and broad artistic range, Tharp presents the world premiere of DYLAN LOVE SONGS, a piece exploring love's give and take, set to the elegiac music of Bob Dylan. She also brings back her 1970 gem, The Fugue, which derives its rigorous form from Bach's "The Musical Offering."

BALLET WEST

October 11-14

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

Curtain Chat: Thu, Oct 12

Family Matinee: Sat, Oct 14 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$60

Following its successful 2015 Joyce debut, Ballet West returns with two New York premieres: Nicolo Fonte's powerful and moving Fox on the Doorstep and Val Caniparoli's majestic and dynamic Dances for Lou. Rounding out the program will be a third work from the company's rich and varied repertoire. Boasting elegant and versatile dancers, ballet fans won't want to miss seeing this American gem from the Rocky Mountains.

TERO SAARINEN COMPANY

Morphed

October 18 - 22

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

Curtain Chat: Thu, Oct 19

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $40)

Tero Saarinen Company, one of Europe's leading contemporary dance companies, makes its long-awaited return to The Joyce with Morphed, a work bursting with strong masculine energy. Performed by seven men who explore themes of change and sensuality, the piece exhibits Saarinen's fascinating choreography, ranging from the brutally aggressive to the meditatively soft and minimalistic, much like the accompanying music by acclaimed composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, a fellow Finn. The stunning set and lighting design by Saarinen's long-time collaborator, Bessie-award winner Mikki Kunttu is complemented by Finnish fashion designer Teemu Muurimäki's edgy costumes.

COMPAGNIE MAGUY MARIN

BiT

October 25 - 29

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

Curtain Chat: Thu, Oct 26

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $40)

For over 40 years, Maguy Marin has astounded international audiences with her arresting choreographic vision. This season, her company takes the Joyce stage to perform BiT, a chilling and confrontational work contemplating violence created for six dancers who careen through space, shifting from ecstatic celebration to frenzied scurry. With BiT, Marin investigates how each choice, each step, and each movement a person makes combine to create a unique rhythmic imprint. And if each person's rhythm is distinct, being together can sound alternatingly like a chorus or like cacophony. As always, Marin gives us both the bitter and the sweet, the melody and the noise, and she doesn't apologize for it.

Please be advised that this performance contains nudity and explicit sexual content and is recommended for those 18 and older.

**Trigger Warning** This performance contains depictions of sexual violence.

DRESDEN SEMPEROPER BALLETT

October 31 - November 4

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Nov 1

Tickets: $10-$50 (Joyce Members $26; $38)

Dresden Semperoper Ballett of Dresden makes its Joyce debut with an elegant program that showcases classical technique with a contemporary bend. On tap are two works by the innovative British choreographer David Dawson, including 5, a quintet of virtuoso dancing from his acclaimed Giselle, and On the Nature of Daylight, a stirring work set to music by Max Richter. Rounding out the program is the potent Vertigo Maze by Belgian choreographer Stijn Celis, and a world premiere by New York-born, School of American Ballet-trained company member Joseph Hernandez, whose highly theatrical work exudes humor and emotion.

GARTH FAGAN DANCE

November 7 - 12

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Nov 8

Family Matinee: Sat, Nov 11 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$60 (Members $34; $45)

A long time Joyce audience favorite, Garth Fagan Dance comes back with a program displaying Fagan's signature technique, heralded for combining the gravity of modern dance, the precision of ballet, and the power of Afro-Caribbean styles. The engagement includes world premieres by Fagan and Bessie Award winner Norwood Pennewell, a company member for 38 years, as well as two New York City premieres: Fagan's In Conflict and Pennewell's A Moderate Cease. Also on the program--enticing revivals from the company's rich archive. With nearly five decades of history, Garth Fagan Dance still packs a punch.

COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET

November 14 - 26

Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu, Nov 16 7pm (Gala Performance); Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7:30pm

No performance on Thanksgiving, November 23

Curtain Chat: Wed, Nov 15

Family Matinee: Sat, Nov 18 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$60 (Members $34; $45)

"Inventive, emotionally satisfying and just plain joyful, the dancers of Complexions are utterly transfixing," proclaims Billboard Magazine. Their high-voltage, virtuosic style will again be on display at The Joyce when a stellar cast of 15 dancers perform an exciting array of repertory favorites spanning the company's 24 year history, as well as world premieres by Artistic Director Dwight Rhoden set to famous classical arias and a new work by Artist in Residence Jae Man Joo. The program also includes last season's runaway hit Star Dust, a delectable dance set to the music of David Bowie.

LIZ GERRING DANCE COMPANY

Horizon

November 30 - December 3

Thu-Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm

Curtain Chat: Fri, Dec 1

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $30)

With strong, clean, lines and shapes, Liz Gerring Dance Company's Horizon focuses on the idea of density. Expansive yet also pristine, the piece takes the form of a constantly shifting universe of activity that emphasizes Gerring's distinct attunement to space. Performed by seven dancers, Horizon was commissioned by The Joyce and features production design by multiple award winner Robert Wierzel and a score by longtime collaborator Michael J. Schumacher.

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY

December 12 - 17

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Dec 13

Tickets: $10-$75 (Joyce Members $38; $56)

When Trisha Brown died in March 2017, The New York Times paid tribute to her by remarking that "few dance inventors have so combined the cerebral and sensuous sides of dance as Ms. Brown did, and few have been as influential." Joyce audiences will have the chance to witness the choreographer's genius played out in lush and heady movement when the Trisha Brown Dance Company takes the stage with a program of three pivotal proscenium works created between 2000 and 2009, during the choreographer's final period of dance making. These dances illuminate Brown's connection to music: Salvatore Sciarrino's flute in Geometry of Quiet; Dave Douglas's jazz sounds in Groove and Countermove; and Jean-Philippe Rameau's baroque opera in L'Amour au théâtre.

DORRANCE DANCE

December 19 - 31

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Dec 20

Family Matinee: Sat, Dec 23 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$75 (Joyce Members $38; $56)

The rare artist who can make a dance that is as innovative as it is engaging, MacArthur Award-winning tap dancer Michelle Dorrance leads a company comprised of some of the best hoofers in the business. For its Joyce engagement, Dorrance Dance performs a newly reborn and extended version of its acclaimed Myelination. The work includes original, live music composed by Gregory Richardson and Donovan Dorrance, the choreographer's talented brother, featuring eclectic-soul vocalist Aaron Marcellus. The program includes additional works highlighting the astounding skill and exuberance of this show-stopping group.

AMERICAN DANCE PLATFORM

January 9 - 14

Dedicated to the memory of Theodore S. Bartwink of The Harkness Foundation for Dance .

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

Program A: Tue, Jan 9 & Sun, Jan 14 at 7:30pm

Program B: Wed, Jan 10 at 7:30pm & Sun, Jan 14 at 2pm

Program C: Thu, Jan 11 & Sat, Jan 13 at 8pm

Program D: Fri, Jan 12 at 8pm & Sat, Jan 13 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $30)

Now in its third year, the American Dance Platform continues to showcase some of the most captivating American companies performing today. This year's festival, curated by Christine Tschida, Director of Northrop at the University of Minnesota, features an eclectic roster of eight companies appearing on four different programs, each program featuring a company making its Joyce debut. Program A includes two exciting, young troupes: Los Angeles' sleek and crowd-pleasing BODYTRAFFIC alongside the New York City-based swing, jazz, and tap ensemble Caleb Teicher & Company. Program B showcases two visually striking contemporary dance companies: New York City's Jessica Lang Dance, known for exceptionally crafted work, and the dynamic and entertaining Backhausdance from Southern California. Program C features two companies informed by distinct cultural traditions: the African American contemporary dance of PHILADANCO! alongside the mesmerizing and fluid traditional hula of H?LAU O KEKHUI. Program D explores rhythm and includes two companies based in Chicago: Ensemble Espanol, performing flamenco and folkloric dance from Spain, and the hard-driving percussive power of Trinity Irish Dance.

MALPASO DANCE COMPANY

January 17 - 21

An Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions

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

Curtain Chat: Thu, Jan 18

Family Matinee: Sat, Jan 20 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$50 (Joyce Members $26; $38)

Cuba's Malpaso Dance Company has taken the United States by storm. The troupe is made up of some of Havana's most beguiling young dancers who are "sparklingly present-and remarkable all around" (The New York Times), artists who can be counted on to display a refreshing, contemporary aesthetic-a picture of the new Cuba, in dance form. This season, Malpaso returns with delightful works by Artistic Director Osnel Delgado and the New York premiere ofIndomitable Waltz, The Joyce's recent commission for the troupe that was created by choreographer Aszure Barton. Set to the music of Alexander Balanescu, Michael Nyman, and Nils Frahm, this is a mesmerizing work that looks inward, toward the soul.

KADER ATTOU - COMPAGNIE ACCRORAP

The Roots

January 23 - 28

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Jan 24

Family Matinee: Sun, Jan 28 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $30)

This spellbinding French troupe combines hip hop, circus arts, and contemporary dance to thrilling effect. For its Joyce debut, the company performs The Roots, a visually striking work for eleven dancers. Spectacular and poetic, nostalgic and innovative, the dance looks backward as it glides forward. Set to music that varies from electronica to Brahms, The Roots delves into the origins of hip hop, but the stellar dancing is all about the future of this electric form.

COMPAGNIE HERVÉ KOUBI

What The Day Owes To The Night

January 30 - February 4

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Jan 31

Family Matinee: Sun, Feb 4 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $30)

French-based Compagnie Hervé KOUBI performs What The Day Owes To The Night, a highly physical, stunningly fluid work for 12 French-Algerian and African dancers. A Joyce debut, the piece created by French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi was inspired by his father's deathbed revelation that Koubi's family originated in Algeria, rather than in France as Koubi had believed. Exploring the artist's newfound roots, this spellbinding work combines capoeira, martial arts, and contemporary dance with powerful imagery evocative of Orientalist paintings-depictions of the Eastern world by European artists-and Islamic architecture. Though thrillingly kinetic, what lingers about the piece is the transcendence of a journey home.

RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE, A DANCE COMPANY

February 6 - 11

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Feb 7

Family Matinee: Sat, Feb 10 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$40 (Joyce Members $23; $30)

Ronald K. Brown seamlessly blends traditional African dance with contemporary choreography, resulting in a "magnificently textured style, which shifts from earthy, raw-powered movement to jumps that send dancers sailing into the air like spirits." (The New York Times) The program includes a world premiere duet for Brown and Arcell Cabuag in celebration of Associate Artistic Director Cabaug's 20th year with the company. Other highlights: the company premiere ofDancing Spirit, commissioned by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Come Ye, March.

NOCHE FLAMENCA

Intimo

February 13 - 25

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

Curtain Chat: Wed, Feb 14

Family Matinee: Sat, Feb 17 at 2pm

Tickets: $10-$70 (Joyce Members $41; $53)

Displaying the heart-stopping, jaw-dropping talent of Soledad Barrio, Noche Flamenca comes back to The Joyce with Intimo, a series of short, emotive works created by the company's Artistic Director Martin Santangelo, featuring live music. With Intimo, the troupe continues to push the boundaries of the traditional flamenco format, and as with the dazzling Antigona, from 2015, this new piece draws from the realm of dance theater, while still retaining the integrity of the raw and rapturous art form. Barrio performs alongside other brilliant flamenco dancers and musicians, many hailing from Spain. (Note: Soledad will not perform during the Saturday matinee performances.)

CURTAIN CHATS:

The Joyce Theater holds free post-performance dialogues with artistic directors and/or company members following designated performances. 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 ten family-friendly matinees, each followed by a special chance to meet the artists. Kids' tickets are only $10. Children who see all three or more 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 grown-up). Joyce Junior Members get a special "Backstage-at-the-Joyce" tour, a T-shirt, and gift coupons. Please note the Twyla Tharp Dance, Dorrance Dance, and Noche Flamenca matinees will be preceded by a dance class for kids and their families.

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

TWYLA THARP DANCE

Saturday, September 23 at 2pm

Ballet West

Saturday, October 14 at 2pm

Garth Fagan Dance

Saturday, November 11 at 2pm

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

Saturday, November 18 at 2pm

Dorrance Dance

Saturday, December 23 at 2pm

Malpaso Dance Company

Saturday, January 20 at 2pm

Kader Attou - Compagnie Accrorap

Sunday, January 28 at 2pm

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI

Sunday, February 4 at 2pm

Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company

Saturday, February 10 at 2pm

Noche Flamenca

Saturday, February 17 at 2pm

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The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a nonprofit organization, has proudly served the dance community for over three decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and The Joyce renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was 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 build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also presented dance at Lincoln Center since 2012, and launched Joyce Unleashed in 2014 to feature emerging and experimental artists. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 150,000.

Joyce Theater Productions (JTP) is a producing partnership of The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. and Sunny Artist Management, Inc. (SAM). It was formed to create and tour works by some of today's most exciting dancers and choreographers. Through the partnership, JTP supports new productions created outside of a traditional dance company model, such as Daniil Simkin's INTENSIO and Wendy Whelan and Brian Brooks' Some of a Thousand Words; as well as the work of existing troupes through its Associate Company program, which currently includes Malpaso Dance Company from Cuba and L.A. Dance Project. For more information visit Joyce.org.

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 - through August 2018. For more information on becoming a Joyce Member, please visit www.Joyce.org or call JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Single ticket prices range from $10-$75. 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).