Curating for The Joyce Theater, Misty Copeland Envisions Ballet’s Future

Throughout her career, Misty Copeland has advocated for a future in ballet that makes room for more: more voices, more backgrounds, more questions, and more opportunities. Heading into her first curated program, for the annual Ballet Festival at New York City’s Joyce Theater, that “more” mindset led her artistic vision. The result, which runs from August 4–16, is a diverse mix of ballets, dancers, and choreographers that illustrates, in her eyes, what the art form can be.

“What excited me was the opportunity to show audiences how broad ballet really is,” Copeland writes in a message to Pointe. “I wanted the program to move between classical repertory, contemporary work, and new commissions, and to bring together artists from different companies, generations, and backgrounds.”

With the goal to create a festival that “honors ballet’s history while also looking toward its future,” Copeland writes, she collaborated with The Joyce’s director of programming, Danni Gee, and its theater producer, Ross LeClair; Copeland later added in an Instagram post that she also aims to spotlight Black, Brown, and queer voices. Together, they put together what Gee describes as a “Tetris-like” puzzle of artists and works Copeland wished to feature, navigating summer performance seasons and other festivals while solidifying repertoire and casting. The cast of dancers, a starry mix from American Ballet Theatre, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, New York City Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, and more, also includes freelancers and contemporary artists. (Full casting below.)

Across the two weeks, the artists will perform works from long-established dancemakers, like Rudolf Nureyev, Kyle Abraham, Dwight Rhoden, and even Bob Fosse, alongside newer and emerging choreographic talent. Copeland and the Joyce team have also commissioned brand-new works by American Ballet Theatre corps member Aleisha Walker and Atlanta-based Afro-Caribbean choreographer Ilo.

“Part of the overarching mission is that everyone can be seen, and seen in ways you wouldn’t expect,” Gee says in a video call. Some of the pieces, like Ilo’s barefoot Melt: From the Inside Out, fall outside the realm of ballet. Melt, which draws from Ilo’s work in African diasporic and house dance, features a diverse cast: Ilo, NYCB’s Olivia Bell and Kylie Takeno Williams, New Jersey Ballet’s Vinicius Freire, Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet’s Deven Crawford, and independent artist Raven Joseph. (Gee explains that Copeland saw a portion of the work while visiting Atlanta last year, and that she wanted to include it in the festival with a cast that would bring out different elements of Ilo’s choreography.)

For ABT corps member Madison Brown, Copeland’s program offers a welcome opportunity to dive into new repertoire. She’ll perform in Mantle, by ABT principal James Whiteside; the world premiere Rising, by fellow corps member Aleisha Walker; and the spiritual pas de deux Ave Maria, by Complexions co-founding artistic director Dwight Rhoden. To make it happen, she’s had to navigate not only ABT’s summer Metropolitan Opera House season, but also a recent gig in Bermuda. She worked with her Ave Maria partner, Complexions dancer Joe González, throughout July and learned Whiteside’s piece from videos while abroad. (Luckily, she learns well that way.) Brown hopes that the festival will inspire audiences to view its artists “in a different light.”

“It sounds cliché, but we’re not a monolith,” says Gee. “We’re reinforcing that message, not just as dancers, but as human beings, and as people of color: We are capable of so much more than people give us credit for or expect of us. I crave the day when we’re done with firsts.”

Read on for the complete repertoire and casting (subject to change):

Week One (August 4–9)

• Interactions, by Ingrid Silva: Independent artist Elias Re and freelancer Renan Cerdeiro
• Show Pony, by Kyle Abraham: New York City Ballet principal Taylor Stanley
• Percussion IV, by Bob Fosse: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Shota Miyoshi
• Excerpt from Young Lovers, by Houston Thomas: Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Joe González and Aeron Buchanan
• Sonata for Two Cellos, by José Limón: New York City Ballet soloist Victor Abreu
• Excerpt from Romeo & Juliet, by Rudolf Nureyev: Paris Opéra Ballet étoiles Guillaume Diop and Sae Eun Park
• Ave Maria, by Dwight Rhoden: Complexions company member Joe González and artist in residence April Watson
• Rising, by Aleisha Walker: American Ballet Theatre’s Walker and Madison Brown; and Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Ariana Dickerson, Carly Greene, and Delaney Washington

Week Two (August 11–16)

• Clear, by Stanton Welch: Houston Ballet principal Harper Watters, first soloist Naazir Muhammad, and demi-soloist Kellen Hornbuckle
• Middle Length Poem, by Andrea Miller: New York City Ballet principal Taylor Stanley
• “Lift Every Voice,” from Deep River, by Alonzo King: Alonzo King LINES Ballet guest artist Babatunji
• Excerpts from Firebird, by John Taras: Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Alexandra Hutchinson and Derek Brockington
• Ave Maria, by Dwight Rhoden: American Ballet Theatre’s Madison Brown and Complexions’ Joe González
• Thaïs, by Roland Petit: Paris Opéra Ballet étoiles Guillaume Diop and Sae Eun Park (will not be performed on August 16)
• Mantle, by James Whiteside: American Ballet Theatre principals Chloe Misseldine (August 15–16) and SunMi Park (August 11–14), soloists Sierra Armstrong and Jarod Curley, and corps members Madison Brown (August 13–16) and Ingrid Thoms (August 11–12)
• Melt: From the Inside Out, by Ilo: Ilo, New York City Ballet’s Olivia Bell and Kylie Takeno Williams, New Jersey Ballet’s Vinicius Freire, Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet’s Deven Crawford, and independent artist Raven Joseph