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At The Joyce, a new season and the promise of many more

The always-dynamic Parsons Dance will present the NY premiere of “Whirlaway” during their Jan. 21–Feb. 1 run.
The always-dynamic Parsons Dance will present the NY premiere of “Whirlaway” during their Jan. 21–Feb. 1 run.

BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC  |  Can a parent choose a favorite child? Linda Shelton, executive director for The Joyce Theater, has a similar dilemma when talking about the upcoming spring/summer season of dance.

“I’m really looking forward to all of it,” Shelton remarked during a recent interview. “When I look at this list, I’m excited about every single one for one reason or another.”

Equally exciting is the prospect of a long-term presence in Chelsea, once a matter of great uncertainty. The Joyce Theater was founded in 1982 and quickly established itself as a stable presence in the city’s dance scene. It faced a decisive moment in 2012 when, knowing the venue’s lease would expire in 2016, The Joyce started the process of buying its home at 175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St. “All the paperwork has been signed,” Shelton told this newspaper, “and we close in the coming months.”

The upcoming season includes performers that will be at the Joyce for the first time — Ballet West, Liz Gerring Dance Company and Dorrance Dance — as well as what Shelton called “old favorites” — the Stephen Petronio Company and Ballet Hispanico.

It kicks off with the Martha Graham Dance Company, from Feb. 10–22, which will be performing the modern dance maestro’s “classics that set the standards for geometric force,” as well as paying homage to her iconic solo, “Lamentation,” with the world premiere of four new pieces in “Lamentation Variations.”

Also returning will be Cuba’s MalPaso Dance Company, from March 3–8, said Shelton.

Photo by Paul Kolnik The NYC Ballet’s Ashley Bouder and Amar Ramasar, in a promotional photo for Dance from the Heart. The Jan. 26 event benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS (dradance.org).
Photo by Paul Kolnik
The NYC Ballet’s Ashley Bouder and Amar Ramasar, in a promotional photo for Dance from the Heart. The Jan. 26 event benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS (dradance.org).

“The Joyce has had a big part in the development of this company,” she explained. “They’ll be bringing two brand new works, one by Trey McIntyre, and one by their company’s artistic director, Osnel Delgado.”

MalPaso, which only recently formed, performed last year for the first time at The Joyce. The organization commissioned Ronald K. Brown, and arranged and paid for him to travel to Havana, she said.

Brown created a piece, “Why You Follow,” for the young company. This year, his company, Evidence, will be performing before MalPaso, from Feb. 24–March 1. Shelton described his style as incorporating some African dance and said much of his work had a spiritual element to it.

As Brown’s style differs from McIntyre, a contemporary ballet choreographer, Shelton said it will be a very different piece that MalPaso will present this season.

Jazz musician Arturo O’Farrill, Shelton explained, will once again play a live accompaniment for most of the performances. O’Farrill will play in the theater’s music area to the side, but Shelton said, “You will not miss him. He has a presence.”

She said that The Joyce tries to pair live music with dance whenever possible.

Other international companies are also slated to perform.

The French company, Compagnie CNDC-Angers, will make its first appearance at The Joyce from March 10–15. Its artistic director, Robert Swinston, a former Merce Cunningham dancer, has drawn from the extensive and excellent work of Cunningham’s cannon to create “Event.”

Also on the roster is the Lyon Opera Ballet, from April 29–May 3, which has been at The Joyce several times, said Shelton, but is always a “special treat.” By the time summer arrives, it will be time for the Polish National Ballet, performing June 16–21.

“We feel like we need to bring dance to our audiences,” said Shelton. “It does have to be a combination of both New York-based, US-based and international because we program for 48 weeks. We have enough room for all of it.”

There are a myriad of factors involved when curating a season — when troupes are available, budgetary concerns, and the balance of different movement styles, Shelton explained, calling it a “big puzzle.”

“First and foremost, we’re looking for artistic excellence in dance and at the same time, we’re looking for diversity so that we can fulfill the mission of The Joyce, which is inclusive and incorporates all different styles and genres of dance, from the well-known to the not so-well-known,” she said. “I think our audience looks for that kind of diversity.”

The Joyce also commissions new work and Shelton said, “we try to give priority to getting that on the schedule.”

She said it is difficult to fit everything in and sometimes a performance gets postponed.

“Sometimes I wish we had more weeks in the year, but we program as many as we possibly can,” she said. “We have to make sure that we can afford it all too, because our ticket prices are pretty reasonable.”

Several Joyce-commissioned pieces have made their way into the upcoming season.

Michelle Dorrance is an artist-in-residence and received support to create new work. Her company, Dorrance Dance, will perform at The Joyce for the first time on April and 5.

Former principal for the New York City Ballet, Wendy Whelan, begins a new chapter with four duets as part of “Restless Creature” from May 26–31. A new work was also commissioned for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, May 12–24, a company that is not afraid of versatility.

Another artist-in-residence is Stephen Petronio, who is working on a new project called “Bloodlines,” said Shelton. He’s bringing in work from other choreographers, she explained, which many companies do, but in Steven’s case, he’s looking at choreographers with which he has a history — a kind of bloodline.

“The first one [is] Merce Cunningham and it’s terrific. It’s ‘Rainforest’ — you don’t see that so often,” she said.

His eponymous company will perform from April 7–12.

Shelton said that she sees every company at least once.

“I could talk all afternoon to you about all these things that I’m extremely anxious to see — I’d take up the whole newspaper,” she said with a laugh.

She saw Liz Gerring perform “Glacier” at another venue and knew that she wanted to bring it to The Joyce.

“I just loved the piece and I thought it needed to have another showing,” she said. “It’s just so powerful, just intensely physical. I was totally drawn into it. I was riveted for the entire time of the piece.”

The Liz Gerring Dance Company will be at The Joyce from March 31–April 2.

Another upcoming event is Dance from the Heart on Jan. 26, a benefit for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA). Proceeds will go to 450 AIDS and family service organizations across the country.

“We worked with them many times before,” said Shelton. “We have a hard time finding a date in the season when we can accommodate some of these outside projects, like galas or events. It’s very hard to find even one dark night in the season. We’re glad that we’re able to find one for DRA, because they really are fantastic.”

Parsons Dance will perform at the benefit and is a part of The Joyce’s fall/winter season, from Jan. 21–Feb. 1. Chelsea Now got a sneak peek at the company practicing “Nascimento Novo” at the 92nd Street Y.

Parsons Dance is performing well-loved pieces, such as “Caught,” as well as the New York premiere of “Whirlaway.”

David Parsons, the founder of the company and a choreographer who has created over 70 works, said that the New Orleans Ballet Association commissioned “Whirlaway” last year.

He was invited to pick a New Orleans musician and immediately choose Allen Toussaint. Toussaint let Parsons check out his repertory and the music chosen became the seed that sparked the piece’s movement.

“I picked something that really was just a celebration of New Orleans,” he told Chelsea Now after stepping away from rehearsal. “New Orleans is a feel. It’s an environment that’s really rare in the United States.”

His company, he explained, is known for a lot of physicality.

“What we do is, when we start a new work, we really try and come up with a new vocabulary for each piece,” he said. “I think that is one of the reasons why we have lasted so long. I learned this from Paul Taylor: variety is an important thing. Especially when you have a one-choreographer company.”

Parsons has danced for several companies, including the Paul Taylor Dance Company for eight years and MOMIX, and has worked with Mark Morris and Peter Martins of the New York City Ballet.

“You see a lot of dance where it’s just the same movements all the way through the evening,” he explained. “I’ve always noticed that and always kind of fought against that.”

“Whirlaway” debuted last May in New Orleans and Parsons said he wanted to make it sort of timeless.

“The historic aspects of New Orleans just permeate everyday life down there,” he said. “We wanted to have a real funkiness to it.”

Also on the program, are two pieces: “Train” by Robert Battle, the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and a duet by McIntyre’s “Hymn.”

“It’s really important for dancers and audiences to get a mix of [movement] — and why not — in a program,” he explained. “These are two choreographers that I admire.”

Battle danced with Parsons’ company out of Julliard, he said.

“It’s very ritualistic and it goes really well with the Parsons’ program,” he said of the piece.

Parsons has also known McIntyre for years and said that they are a good fit conceptually.

“We just like to have people who speak our language,” he said.

Parsons said he has been working with dancers in his company for 15 years to help them produce work. At The Joyce, Natalie Lomonte, who once was with the company, will perform “Within,” which will be a world premiere, accompanied by the music of Nina Simone. Parsons understands the struggle of a dancer trying to make the transition to choreographer well. When he first came to New York from Kansas City, Missouri he had a lot of jobs to make ends meet.

A gymnast and dancer who had a trampoline forte, Parsons became known as a stunt model. He said he could hit things in the air and make incredible shapes.

While doing a photo shoot with Lois Greenfield for The Village Voice, he found the inspiration for his well-known work, “Caught,” and began a collaboration with Greenfield that has lasted 25 years.

“I came up with this thing where I lied on my back and I just popped myself up — straight up in the air like that, a foot off the floor and she shot it. And then I landed again. Smack,” he recalled. By throwing his body up, “you can see the shadow underneath you and Lois was like, ‘damn that’s cool.’”

© Michel Cavalca The Lyon Opera Ballet returns to The Joyce April 29-May 3.
© Michel Cavalca
The Lyon Opera Ballet returns to The Joyce April 29-May 3.

Parsons realized that the sequence of motion captured by Greenfield’s photo session could translate to the stage.

“Caught” is a very athletic piece, he explained, with 100 jumps in five minutes, which gives the audience the idea that the dancer is flying or suspended in the air. At The Joyce, Parsons Dance member Elena d’Amario will perform the piece.

D’Amario has had an interesting path to Parsons, winning the Italian talent show “Amici,” and by doing so, getting a scholarship with the company. Parsons, who was a judge on the show, is well traveled and speaks Italian.

“Bachiana,” which Parsons likened to a love letter to ballet with “a modernist taking it on” is also a part of the program, which differs from matinee to evening.

“I really like an arc,” he said. “It’s great for me to have an audience go through a real dark piece and actually laugh in the concert and then gasp in the concert and then just pull out all the emotions.”

© Christopher Duggan Led by artist-in-residence Michelle Dorrance, the Dorrance Dance company makes their Joyce premiere on April 4 & 5.
© Christopher Duggan
Led by artist-in-residence Michelle Dorrance, the Dorrance Dance company makes their Joyce premiere on April 4 & 5.