Dance in New York: Critics' picks

[Note: Queen of Hearts returns in February for an encore run, with Lindsay Rose in the title role.] Lewis Carroll's trippy Alice in Wonderland books have inspired many theatrical spectacles, but Company XIV's seductive Queen of Hearts is a singular sexcess: a transporting fusion of haute burlesque, circus, dance and song. Your fall down the glamorous rabbit hole begins upon entering the troupe's louche Bushwick lair, where scantily clad server-performers slink about in flattering red lighting. A cursory knowledge of the source material will help you make sense of the show’s three-act cavalcade of Alice-inspired routines, as our blue-haired heroine embarks on an NC-17 coming-of-age journey under the guidance of the White Rabbit. As usual, Company XIV impresario Austin McCormick has assembled an array of alluring and highly skilled artists, who look smashing in Zane Pihlstrom's lace-and-crystal-encrusted costumes. A contortionist emerges in an S/M-vinyl cocoon and transforms into a beauteous butterfly; mustachioed twins, as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, perform a cheeky spin on the Marx Brothers' mirror trick. As the title royal, voluptuous vocalist Storm Marrero rules over all in her stunning 11-o'clock number. With its soundtrack of pop songs, attractive ensemble cast and immersive aesthetics—plus chocolate and specialty cocktails—Queen of Hearts feels like Moulin Rouge! for actual bohemians. Hell, it even has a cancan. Like Alice, you may resist returning to reality when...

La MaMa's annual festival runs riot with dance in its 20th edition, curated by the beloved Nicky Paraiso. Nearly all of the participating shows are lopal, national or world premieres. The lineup includes: John Jasperse Projects' Tides (Apr 10–13); Keith A. Thompson & danceTactics performance group's Love Alone Anthology Project (Apr 10–13); a shared bill of Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company's e-Motion and Pat Catterson's Tremor and Then (Apr 18–20); a group show of works by Hunter College and NYU Tisch MFA Choreographers (Apr 18–20); bluemouth inc.'s Lucy AI (Apr 24, 25); a pairing of Megumi Eda's solo Please Cry with a collaboration between dancer Nic Gareiss and fiddler Alexis Chartrand (April 25-27); a double bill of Jesse Zaritt and Pamela Pietro's dance for no ending and an untitled piece by Jordan Demetrius Lloyd (Apr 25–27); and Amalia Suryani's Ta’na Nirau (Apr 26, 27). The festival concludes in early May with an Emerging Choreographers Program curated by Martita Abril and Blaze Ferrer (May 1–4) and a shared program created in a partnership with the New York Arab Festival and curated by Adham Hafez (May 1–4). Individual shows cost $30, but multishow package deals are available: $45 for two, $60 for three and $95 for five. 

Harkness Dance Center's Alison Manning curates a weeklong festival of rhythmic dance that patrols many different beats—including tap, flamenco, hip hop, Kathak Indian dance, Irish step dance, street dance and Appalachian flatfooting—and investigates connections between them. The schedule includes four live programs at 92Y: Jake Blount, Nic Gareiss and Rachna Nivas (Apr 22); Derick Grant, Nicholas Young, ChryBaby Cozie, Ladies of Hip-Hop and Wondertwins (Apr 23); Max Pollak Group with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas (Apr 24); and Soles of Duende and LaTasha Barnes (Apr 24, streamed online on Apr 25). These evenings are bookended by events at the rotunda of Guggenheim Museum: an opening night swing party with Danny Jonokuchi & the Revisionists and Gaby Cook (Apr 21) and a closing Works & Process performance by Brenda Bufalino & Company (Apr 26 at 3pm and 7pm). Along the way, the festival also offers five afternoon workshops at 92Y, El Barrio’s Artspace PS109and the Museum of the City of New York. Find out more at the festival website. 

Dancer-choreographers Angie Assal and Soumaya MaRose hold their middle ground in a centennial tribute to Samia Gamal, a star of Egyptian cinema in the 1940s and 1950s, who helped bring international popularity to her country's form of belly dancing, Raqs Baladi. The double bill is presented as part of this year's New York Arab Festival.

NYCB leaps back to Lincoln Center with a six-week slate that includes multiple dances by two of the great choreographers of the 20th century, company cofounders George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, including Balanchine's Vienna Waltzes at the Spring Gala on May 8. Among the other offerings in the varied season are the live premiere of Kyle Abraham's When We Fell; recent works by Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmasky and Caili Quan; older pieces by Peck, Ratmansky and the late Lynne Taylor-Corbett; a program of work set to music by Maurice Ravel, comprising four pieces that premiered 50 years ago at the company's first Ravel Festival (May 14–24); and, for the final stretch, Balanchine's full-length forest romp A Midsummer Night's Dream (May 27–June 1). Visit the City Ballet website for a full schedule of events. New York City Ballet's current roster of principal dancers includes Tyler Angle, Gilbert Bolden III, Chun Wai Chan, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Megan Fairchild, Jovani Furlan, Emilie Gerrity, Joseph Gordon, Anthony Huxley, Isabella LaFreniere, Sara Mearns, Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, Tiler Peck, Unity Phelan, Taylor Stanley, Daniel Ulbricht, Andrew Veyette, Emma Von Enck, Peter Walker and Indiana Woodward. Veyette departs the company in a farewell performance on May 25.

The L.A. company Bodytraffic returns to the Joyce with a evening that explores sensations of memory, nostalgia and the things that may trigger them. The bill comprises three works: Trey McIntyre's Mayday, a laurel to Buddy Holly set to such songs as “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day”; Matthew Neenan's I Forgot the Start, which employs music by Sinéad O’Connor and others to explore love won and lost; and Juel D. Lane's Incense Burning on a Saturday Morning: The Maestro, which depicts the artist Ernie Barnes as he works on one of his most famous paintings.

In its latest Joyce engagement, Kyle Abraham's contemporary-dance company explores themes of Black and queer identity, resilence and social connection in a mixed bill of four recent works: two pieces by Princess Grace Award winners, Andrea Miller's YEAR and Rena Butler's Shell of A Shell of The Shell, that the company premiered last year; Paul Singh's 2019 solo Just Your Two Wrists, set to music by David Lang; and Abraham’s own latest work, an as-yet-untitled collaboration with composer Shelley Washington.