Dorrance Dance Returns To The Joyce With A World Premiere

The Joyce Theater Foundation will present the return of Dorrance Dance with a collaborative world premiere work.

Sprung from the mind of much-lauded Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance, this brand new piece that examines tap and percussive dance at its core will play The Joyce Theater from July 16-21. 

Led by endlessly energetic and innovative Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance, Dorrance Dance makes a triumphant return to The Joyce this summer with a world premiere work that takes tap back to its essentials. The singular artists of the New York-based award-winning company continue to embody all that the percussive dance form has to offer, channeling the creativity and pedagogy of Dorrance's mentor, Gene Medler. In his work as the founder and director of the highly acclaimed North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble and beyond, Medler's spirit and philosophy of dance ripples through Dorrance's boundless, novel creations and the tap community as a whole. Dorrance Dance artists will showcase their unique voices in improvisational solos, as well as their work as an ensemble of musician-dancers and Dorrance's sole collaborators for this never-before-seen work. Mining the musical expression of myriad generations of tap dance legacy, the latest creation from the mind of Michelle Dorrance and her most trusted collaborators explores what they do as tap dancers at their core and the fundamental elements of living and performing the hyphenate life of a dancer-musician.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based in New York City. Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, the company shares the incredibly dynamic range that tap dance has to offer through performance & education. Our goal is to engage with audiences on a musical and emotional level, and to share the complex history and powerful legacy of this American art form throughout the country and the world.

Michelle Dorrance is a New York City-based artist. Mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble), she was fortunate to study under many of the last master hoofers. Career highlights include: STOMP, Derick Grant's Imagine Tap!, Jason Samuels Smith's Charlie's Angels/Chasing the Bird, Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer, Mable Lee's Dancing Ladies, and playing the bass for Darwin Deez. Company work includes Savion Glover's Ti Dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Co., JazzTap Ensemble, and Rumba Tap. Solo work ranges from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to commissions for the Martha Graham Dance Company, Vail Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Center. Michelle made her Broadway choreographic debit with James Lapine's Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center Theater in 2021. A 2018 Doris Duke Artist, 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, and 2015 MacArthur Fellow, Dorrance is humbled to have been acknowledged and supported by United States Artists, The Joyce Theater, the Alpert Awards, Jacob's Pillow, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Field, American Tap Dance Foundation, and the Bessie Awards. Dorrance holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University and an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of North Carolina. She is a Capezio athlete and was recently named an Associate Artist at Sadler's Wells. 

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation (“The Joyce,” Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for more than four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and 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 475 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater to Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Art Center, and outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (1st–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 includes over 300 performances for audiences of over 100,000.

The Joyce Theater presents Dorrance Dance in a world premiere from Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance from July 16-21. The performance schedule is as follows: Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $12-$82 (including fees), can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.