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...

92NY's Harkness Dance Center hosts two nights of performances tied to the sixth annual edition of the Ladies in the Shoe Tap Conference, a hub for female tap dancers created by one of the most promiment names in the field, the Astaire Award winner Dormeshia (After Midnight). The nine acts in the show, selected from video applications, include performers from across the country as well as Canada and Japan, accompanied by a live jazz trio. Broadway regular Aisha Jackson (Once Upon a One More Time) makes a guest appearance. 

Clymene Aldinger's Clymove Dance marks its fifth anniversary with a spring run at Live Arts. The mixed bill of six works includes the world premiere of Aldinger's own Martha Always Said as well as "message-driven" commissioned works by JoVonna Parks and several pieces from the company's repertory. The gala opener on March 19 honors two of Aldinger's college dance mentors, Ana Marie Forsythe and the late Denise Jefferson. 

The New York–based classical Chinese dance company and promotional behemoth Shen Yun, founded in 2006 by practitioners of Falun Gong, is perhaps better known for its saturation advertising—assisted by Falun Gong's far-right media arm The Epoch Times—than for its traditionalist pageants of precommunist Chinese culture. Drawing on ancient folklore, the company surveys five millennia of Chinese culture and spirituality in a production that combines ornate costumes, elaborate staging and a large orchestra that features both Eastern and Western instruments. 

Chicago's popular Hubbard Street, under the guidance of artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, returns to its NYC pied-à-terre at the Joyce Theatre. The program this time comprises Ohad Naharin's early all-male quintet Black Milk (1990) and the New York premieres of FLOCK's Into Being, Johan Inger’s Impasse and resident artist Aszure Barton's A Duo.