Onstage

New York City Center’s 2026 Fall for Dance Festival Features Ballet, World Premieres, and More

September 18, 2026

As September’s end nears, New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance Festival returns with a wide range of performances spanning everything from ballet and modern to tap and flamenco. With 10 days of performances divided into five programs, the event caters to both long-time dance fans and curious new viewers for only $30 a ticket. This year’s festival runs September 22–October 3 and includes 11 premieres, including two NYCC commissions.

As always, Fall for Dance features a variety of genres, with performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company, A.I.M, Philadanco, and more. Ballet lovers can expect to see artists from The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and The Australian Ballet, as well as new works choreographed and performed by former New York City Ballet principal Robbie Fairchild and The Stuttgart Ballet’s Friedemann Vogel.

Read on to learn more about Fall for Dance’s ballet highlights.

Aaron Bell and Skylar Brandt are shown dancing together in front of a dark grey translucent curtain in a shadowy dance studio. Bell, wearing black tights, is in a deep lunge facing Brandt with one arm extended behind him and the other out in front of him. Wearing a black ombré tutu and skin-tone pointe shoes, Brandt poses in penché en pointe, looking down at and holding Bell's outstretched hand.
Aran Bell and Skylar Brandt. Photo by Arthur Elgort, courtesy NYCC.

Program 1: A.I.M by Kyle Abraham; Skylar Brandt and Aran Bell; Martha Graham Dance Company

September 22–23

The festival’s first program features American Ballet Theatre principals Skylar Brandt and Aran Bell in Gerald Arpino’s L’Air d’Esprit, a classical pas de deux set to rarely heard music from Giselle. Romantic and complex, L’Air d’Esprit was originally choreographed in 1978 by Gerald Arpino for the Joffrey Ballet as a tribute to the great ballerina Olga Spessivtseva.

Program 2: Philadanco, Robbie Fairchild’s Players, Boston Ballet

September 24–25

Program 2 will feature Robbie Fairchild’s Players in the world premiere preview of Fairchild’s choreographic and directorial debut, Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The work, a co-commission with Guild Hall and NYCC, blends dance and theater to explore the potential origin of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. (Check out a behind-the-scenes video here.)

  • Robbie Fairchild is shown from the waist up holding Vincenzo di Primo, one hand supporting his torso and the other one of his legs. Primo is pointing his free leg and foot toward the camera with a bent knee, as he looks off to the left of the photo. Fairchild wears all black and Primo wears a grey tank top with black shorts and black socks.
    Vincenzo di Primo and Robbie Fairchild rehearse Lord Chamberlains Men. Photo by Dane Dupuis, courtsey of NYCC.
  • A group of dancers wearing neutral-colored costumes with large, baggy skirts faces another dancer whose back is toward the audience. The group pliés in second position, bending their upper bodies forward slightly and spreading their arms wide. their expressions are intense, and the lone dancer stands before them in a strong stance.
    Artists of Boston Ballet in Akram Khan’s Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023. Photo by Theik Smith, courtesy Boston Ballet.

Boston Ballet closes the program with Akram Khan’s Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023. An exploration of humanity’s nature, rituals, and the consequences of actions, the work draws inspiration from the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, along with aspects of Sufi tradition. Khan, who originally choreographed Vertical Road in 2010, reworked the piece on Boston Ballet in 2023.  

Program 3: Juan Tomás de la Molía, Lior Tavori Dance Company, The Royal Ballet

September 26–27

Program 3 features the U.S. premiere of The McRae/Vassilev Project, a collaboration between Royal Ballet principal Steven McRae and Royal Opera House principal guest concert master Vasko Vassilev. Choreographed by Loughlan Prior, the work debuted earlier this month in London and stars McRae alongside fellow Royal Ballet principal Sarah Lamb.

In a green tinted dance studio, Steven McRae and Vasko Vassilev are captured in motion from the waist up, their movements blurred. Vassilev, in a black button down and pants, is playing the violin facing forward. McRae, in a black tank top and pants, has his back to the camera as he faces Vassilev and gestures toward him with one arm.
Steven McRae with Vasko Vassilev. Photo courtesy NYCC.

The work, inspired by legendary violinist Niccolò Paganini, combines ballet, tap, and live music accompaniment featuring Vassilev and accomplished pianist Pamela Tan-Nicholson. In a press release, McRae noted the immediate understanding he and Vassilev have through music: “My dancing and his music became one, proof of my belief that music and dance are a marriage.”

Program 4: San Francisco Ballet, Friedemann Vogel, Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart

September 30–October 1

San Francisco Ballet opens Program 4 with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, a contemporary duet that reimagines Vaslav Nijinsky’s 1912 ballet L’Après-midi d’un faune. Claude Debussy’s famous score is supplemented with original music by Nitin Sawhney, which starkly contrasts the flowing melody.

  • In a light-filled dance studio, Jacey Gaiilard, wearing gray sweatpants and a gray t-shirt, crocuhes down, her eyes fixed on Wei Wang. Wang, wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, squats low to the ground and looks up at her.
    Jacey Gailliard and Wei Wang rehearsing Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun. Photo by Lindsey Rallo, courtesy NYCC.
  • Friedmann Vogel is shown in onstage, holding arabesque on top of a grand piano. Vogel wears black tights and frames his face with one arm in an angular fifth position, his other arm extended straight behind him. His shadow creates a prominent silhouette of his pose against the light grey backdrop.
    Friedemann Vogel. Photo by Roman Novitzky, courtesy NYCC.

Following that is Stuttgart Ballet star Friedemann Vogel’s world premiere of ECHO:SOG, a solo he co-choreographed with Thomas Lempertz to J.S. Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor. Gauthier Dance, a contemporary company founded by former Stuttgart Ballet dancer Eric Gauthier, closes the program with Hofesh Shechter’s experimental Any way the wind blows.

Program 5: Pony Cam, Miami City Ballet, The Australian Ballet

October 2–3

The final program features Miami City Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Roses from the South: Three Waltzes for Toby, which premiered in February. The ballet, set to music by Johann Strauss II, is an elegant tribute to Toby Lerner Ansin, the company’s founder. 

Adam Elmes and Callum Linnane are shown dancing together onstage against a black backdrop, Elmes in front of Linnane. Elmes is on relevé with one leg extended to the side, above their heads. Linnane supports him from behind, with one arm reaching toward the lifted leg. Both dancers wear orange shorts and light-colored socks. Elmes also wears a matching orange tank top.
The Australian Ballet’s Adam Elmes and Callum Linnane in Stephanie Lake’s Seven Days. Photo by Kate Longley, courtesy NYCC.

Finally, The Australian Ballet closes out Fall for Dance with resident choreographer Stephanie Lake’s Seven Days. Performed by a cast of seven dancers to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the ballet unfolds in seven looping variations. On her website, Lake says the piece makes for an interesting dynamic by “colliding” her contemporary style with the dancers’ classical training: “You’d think they’d be worlds apart when, in fact, they’re not.”

Following the festival, The Australian Ballet is sticking around, with performances of Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar at NYCC (October 8–11).

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