Onstage This Week: Stars Abound at the Fire Island Dance Festival, Maria Kochetkova Takes the Joyce and More!
Wonder what’s going on in ballet this week? We’ve rounded up some highlights.
Star-Studded Fire Island Dance Festival Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary
Festival season is in full swing. July 19-21 marks Long Island’s 25th Fire Island Dance Festival, a benefit series in support of Dancers Responding to AIDS. This year’s line up is chock full of ballet stars and world premieres: Kyle Abraham presents an excerpt of a new work featuring American Ballet Theatre’s Calvin Royal III, tap extraordinaire Michelle Dorrance debuts a world premiere featuring Robbie Fairchild, Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Lucien Postlewaite and Christopher D’Ariano dance in a new ballet by Garrett Smith, ABT’s James Whiteside has created a new work for colleagues Aran Bell and Catherine Hurlin and Christopher Wheeldon makes his Fire Island Dance Fest choreographic debut.
NYCB Returns to Its Summer Home
Saratoga Performing Arts Center has long been New York City Ballet’s summer home. July 16-20, NYCB is back upstate with three varied programs: SPAC Premieres by 21st Century Choreographers, Tschaikovsky and Balanchine, and George Balanchine’s Coppélia. For the past few years, NYCB dancers Peter Walker and Emily Kitka have created site-specific dance films to promote the season; check out their newest above.
Maria Kochetkova Takes the Stage at the Joyce Theater
Since leaving San Francisco Ballet last year, Maria Kochetkova has been exploring a new path. Now she presents her own program, Catch Her If You Can, July 16–21 at New York City’s Joyce Theater, dancing alongside four friends—Sebastian Kloborg, Carlo Di Lanno, Sofiane Sylve and Drew Jacoby—in works by Jacoby, Jérôme Bel, William Forsythe, David Dawson, Marco Goecke and Marcos Morau.
Newport Dance Festival Welcomes 5 Visiting Companies
July 14-21
marks Island Moving Company’s Newport Dance Festival. This Rhode Island-based summer staple features five visiting companies from around the world: Thomas/Ortiz Dance, Breathing Art Company, Ballet Dallas, Matthew Westerby Company, Trainor Dance and CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet. All performances are held outdoors; each evening opens with live music, a Q&A and a short piece choreographed that day for a group of self-selected dancers.
