From Kennedy Center chaos to NYC's dance fever 🩰
DC's cultural meltdown meets NYC's dance renaissance. Spoiler alert: New York wins.
As if the meltdown at the Kennedy Center couldn’t get any worse, the most recent move to dismantle the cultural institution included this week’s firing of the entire dance department. Not to be outdone, new Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell appointed Stephen Nakagawa as the department’s new head.
Nakagawa, whose arts administration experience remains a mystery, had written a letter to Grenell expressing concern for “radical leftist ideologies in ballet,” according to documents obtained by the New York Times.
But contrary to recent developments, I’m not here to depress you. While the dance world continues an uphill battle, several monumental happenings in New York City have dance fans pirouetting to procure tickets.
Limón Dance Company’s 80th anniversary
While most dance companies celebrate milestones with familiar retrospectives, the Limón Dance Company is reimagining its own legacy. This 80th anniversary program at New York City’s Joyce Theater transforms three works spanning eight decades to ask uncomfortable questions about masculinity, power, and what happens when a present-day queer Mexican choreographer finds inspiration in your founder’s sacred material.
The wild card is “Jamelgos,” a world premiere by Mexican choreographer Diego Vega Solorza. Like Limón, Solorza hails from Sinaloa and shares his predecessor’s fascination with deconstructing masculine identity. His “dance manifesto” aims to dismantle traditional gender roles while conjuring “a hopeful future.” Bold words—can he deliver? Composer Ebe Oke’s electronic-orchestral hybrid score promises to mirror the tension between traditional and modern identities that drives the piece.
The Limón Company’s programming strategy feels risky and smart: honor the founder’s revolutionary spirit by continuing to innovate. Will nostalgia blend seamlessly with transformation? Can three works spanning 80 years create a unified artistic vision? The Limón Company is betting that the best way to preserve a legacy is to keep evolving it.
Fall for Dance returns to New York City Center
From tap to tango, New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance returns for its 22nd season, featuring the largest international contingency in recent history.
Spanning 12 days, five programs, and 15 different companies, it’s hard to make a misstep, but to cut through the corps de ballet, 1 Minute Critic takes a peek at four companies that caught our attention. Note that each piece is part of a program featuring other dance companies, offering a varied and eclectic evening of movement, regardless of which performance you attend.
While I’m not playing favorites, I’m particularly excited by a rare appearance of principal dancers from across the pond.
While Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Paris Opera House gets a makeover down the street in Masquerade, an immersive reimagining of The Phantom of the Opera, the real-life Paris Opera Ballet sends its stars, Hannah O’Neill and Hugo Marchan, to perform “Afternoon of a Faun,” choreographed by Jerome Robbins (1953) and set to Claude Debussy’s “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.” September 20-21