Dance Theatre of Harlem

The historic Black ballet company Dance Theatre of Harlem returns to City Center for four performances. The mixed bill on April 10 and 13 is a bevy of firsts: the world premiere of Jodie Gates's The Passage of Being; the New York premiere of The Cookout by Robert Garland, who is now in his second season as DTH's artistic director; and the company premieres of William Forsythe's The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and George Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations. The April 12 performance swaps The Cookout for an older Garland work: the return of 1999 Return, a company favorite set to music by James Brown and Aretha Franklin. The gala program on April 11, commemorating the door-opening 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, comprises the Forsythe piece, excerpts from the Balanchine piece and from Garland's We Are Brown, and a speech by Janai Nelson, the President of the Legal Defense Fund.