Dance in NYC This Week

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AMERICAN BALLET THEATER at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center (Oct. 18-29, at various times). American Ballet Theater’s director, Kevin McKenzie, has said that one of his best moves in 25 years of leadership was hiring Alexei Ratmansky as choreographer-in-residence. This gala on Wednesday celebrates Mr. McKenzie’s quarter-century on the job and features the premiere of “Songs of Bukovina” by Mr. Ratmansky. Mr. McKenzie has also championed the choreographer Jessica Lang, who contributes a new work and whose previous company commission, “Her Notes,” is on Thursday’s program along with Mr. Ratmansky’s “Serenade After Plato’s Symposium,” Jerome Robbins’s “Other Dances” and Frederick Ashton’s “Symphonic Variations.”
212-496-0600, abt.org

YOSSI BERG AND ODED GRAF at New York Lives Arts (Oct. 13-14 at 7:30 p.m.). Reflecting on his dance career, the Israeli choreographer Yossi Berg noted how many times he had portrayed a soldier onstage. That realization led to the creation of “Come Jump With Me,” a powerful duet with Olivia Court Mesa, a South American immigrant to Israel, in which the two analyze their relationship with the country through confessional dialogue, a trove of props and some champion jump-roping. The work was created with Mr. Berg’s romantic and artistic partner, Oded Graf, and is presented by the American Dance Festival.
212-924-0077, newyorklivearts.org

BROTHER(HOOD) DANCE! AND J’SUN HOWARD at Danspace Project (Oct. 19-21 at 8 p.m.). Last year’s Danspace Platform, an annual deep dive into an urgent social issue, focused on the generation of dance artists lost to AIDS. That series featured an early version of “how to survive a plague” by Orlando Zane Hunter Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine, who founded Brother(hood) Dance! in 2014. That evolved work now shares an evening with “Working on Better Versions of Prayers: Volume I” by the Chicago choreographer and poet J’Sun Howard, which draws from the concept of “radical hope” and disparate influences like the film “Moonlight” and the musician Kendrick Lamar in depicting the intimacy of queer men of color.
866-811-4111, danspaceproject.org

SARAH MICHELSON at the Kitchen (Oct. 18-21 at 6:30 p.m.). When the choreographer Sarah Michelson was invited to create a work for students at Bard College, a few hours north of New York City, she characteristically redefined the terms of engagement. Instead of a typical brief residency, she would spend four years with students, immersing them in her opaque system of codes and demanding physical tasks. That work had its premiere at Bard last month as “September2017/,” and now a related version comes to the Kitchen this week as “October2017/.” As with much of Ms. Michelson’s work, it promises to be equal parts impenetrable and completely engrossing.
212-255-5793, thekitchen.org

TERO SAARINEN COMPANY at the Joyce Theater (Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 19-21 at 8 p.m., Oct. 22 at 2 p.m.). The work that put Tero Saarinen on the international dance map more than 20 years ago was a trio that explored facets of masculinity. Now Mr. Saarinen, one of Finland’s most prominent dance artists, comes to New York with 2014’s “Morphed,” which illustrates his continuing interest and evolving thoughts on that theme. “Morphed” features seven men who inhabit Mr. Saarinen’s physical style blending delicacy and wildness. That spectrum of dynamics is echoed in the captivating score by his fellow Finn the celebrated composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
212-242-0800, joyce.org

PAM TANOWITZ AND SIMONE DINNERSTEIN at Peak Performances, Montclair State University (Oct 19-20 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 21 at 8 p.m., Oct. 22 at 3 p.m.). In 2007, the pianist Simone Dinnerstein released an acclaimed recording of Bach’s monumental “Goldberg” Variations. A decade later, Ms. Dinnerstein wanted to revisit the work in a fresh way and approached Pam Tanowitz, a highly lauded dancer and choreographer known for her own inventive take on classic movement. Their collaboration, “New Work for Goldberg Variations,” features seven dancers sharing the stage with Ms. Dinnerstein in a riveting dialogue of movement and music.
973-655-5112, peakperfs.org

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