Can I get a 5,6,7,8? This Year's Dance Series Has Something for Everyone!

We are over the moon about this year’s dance series. There’s something for everyone – ballet, contemporary dance, urban fusion, and the unlikely (but so loveable) meeting of dance and radio. From the legendary Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to the hottest younger choreographers, you’ll be on the edge of your seat all season.

In Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, Monica Bill Barnes & Company and Ira Glass, host of This American Life, have been working together to combine two art forms that – as Ira puts it- “have no business being together- dance and radio.” The result is a funny, lively and heartfelt evening of dance and stories that brought down the house in its first test run at Carnegie Hall. The show includes radio interviews restaged as dance pieces, plus stories from the lives of each of the three performers. “People who like This American Life will probably like this,” says Glass, “because it’s just like the radio show, um, if you picture dancing during all the stories.”

Like ballet? On November 20, New York City-based Company Jessica Lang Dance performs in the Piper Theater. Lang, who has been called “a master of visual composition” by Dance Magazine, draws on the tradition and rigor of classical ballet technique to create well crafted, emotionally engaging works. Lang’s choreography features striking design elements such as video, props, and detailed costuming to create a stunning feast for the eyes.

In March, Arizona’s own EPIK Dance Company collaborates with cutting edge string trio Simply Three in a new work, Simply EPIK, at the Piper Theater.  EPIK mashes contemporary dance, jazz dance, and urban disciplines such as hip hop, breaking, and locking to delight and surprise audiences. The cello, bass, and violin trio that is Simply Three blend classical style with the popular songs of today. After their recent collaboration on a video for Simply Three’s version of a Janelle Monae song, we can’t wait to see an evening long pairing of these two innovative groups.

Completing the season is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a legendary company dating back to 1958. The company performs both its famed historical works by Ailey and choreography by some of today’s best talent that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience. With its virtuosic performers and emotionally gripping choreography, the Ailey Company wows audiences around the world in a celebration of joy and the human spirit.