When settling deep into the colder months, we often think of the winter as a season when we turn inward, a time for introspection and self-examination. The Greater Boston dance community is offering many productions that will inspire audiences to look into their own internal processes, touching on topics such as mental health, cycles of rebirth and the psychological experience of battling physical illness. A number of other works draw influence from cultures across the globe, including progressive Irish step dance, Cuban traditions and Wampanoag heritage. Those and more, below.
Emerson Paramount Center | Jan. 17-18
Founded in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company is a renowned Cuban dance company that merges traditional Cuban dance with contemporary global styles. Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, the artists will perform works such as “Floor… y Ando” by Ephrat Asherie, featuring music by Ethiopian pianist and composer Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Other highlights include the soulful “Why You Follow” and “A Dancing Island,” a colorful staging that honors Cuban heritage. The program promises to be a vibrant and inspiring celebration of culture.
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre | Jan. 23-26
Presented by Global Arts Live, fans of singer Burt Bacharach will enjoy “The Look of Love.” This “wistful and heartfelt homage” is set to the musician’s melodies, which have been arranged by jazz pianist and composer Ethan Iverson. The score will play with jazz, rock and Brazilian influences, while the lyrics of Hal David will shine through. Broadway star Marcy Harriell will provide vocals, and the dance performance will be carried by an ensemble of piano, trumpet, bass and more. Mark Morris Dance Group was founded in New York City in 1980 and has been called the “preeminent modern dance organization of our time” by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. (Our classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz also recommends these performances for the adventurous new arrangements of Bacharach by Iverson.)
Arrow Street Arts | Jan. 31-Feb. 2
At Arrow Street Arts, Omayra Amaya Flamenco Dance Company will stage “Antes Del Fin,” an oeuvre that navigates “human evolution and condition” through Flamenco music, theater and dance. The works will be performed by dancers, musicians and guest artists from Spain, guiding spectators through a showcase of traditional and contemporary flamenco. The company is based in Miami, Florida and was founded in Boston in 1994, and while their art is embedded in the dance form’s “centuries-old” legacy, it also intersects with world music, jazz and modern movement.
Boston Arts Academy Theater | Feb. 7-8
Two artists, tap dancer/choreographer Caleb Teicher and pianist/composer Conrad Tao, were last seen collaborating in the music and movement piece “More Forever” in 2019. Now they’ve joined forces again in a “dialogue of harmonic, theatrical and rhythmic interplay,” that brings together their different creative backgrounds. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston, the duo’s “Counterpoint” will be set to the melodies of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” Art Tatum’s piano works, a Viennese waltz by Arnold Schoenberg and a selection that Tao wrote for “More Forever.”
Berklee Performance Center | Feb. 8
Presented by Global Arts Live, Trinity Irish Dance Company performs “JIG,” a work that delivers a unique approach to a traditional genre. The group was founded in 1990 by choreographer Mark Howard and has been lauded as an organization that “ushered in a new era for Irish step dance” by the Chicago Tribune. This event, taking place at Berklee Performance Center, will feature a live band and promises to offer a taste of redefined Irish dance, executed with “passion, flair and precision.”
Emerson Colonial Theater & Citizens Bank Opera House | Feb. 19-20 & Feb. 27-March 16
A graceful and haunting story comes alive in two interpretations of the classic ballet “Swan Lake,” both set to the romantic music of Tchaikovsky. In Grand Kyiv Ballet’s production, Prince Siegfried meets Odette, a young woman entrapped in the form of a white swan, and he pledges his love. The heroine’s captor, Von Rothbart, wishes to prevent the spell he has cast over Odette from being broken, deceiving the prince into falling for the black swan Odile. This performance will feature intricate set design, as well as choreography by Anatoliy Shekera, a ballet master who left his mark on Ukrainian dance.
Boston Ballet’s staging keeps much of the historic, 19th-century choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The organization’s artistic director Mikko Nissinen added a prologue to this version of the masterpiece that represents Odette’s original capture. Audiences will not only delight in the dancers’ stunning movement but in the ornate costumes, designed by Robert Perdziola and intended to reflect the styles of the late Gothic and early Renaissance period.
Feb. 8, March 1-2 & March 22-23
Tessa Saoirse Dance Company and Collective Moments Dance have created “Let’s Talk About It,” a work that addresses topics of mental health, neurodiversity, negative self-talk, and suicide, believing that these issues need to be discussed more. The collaborators met through The Dance Complex in 2022 and have joined energies to develop a show made up of individual pieces that together comprise a bigger picture with an important message (Feb. 8).
Choreographer and dancer Jenna Riegel imagined “Varvara” as a response to the photograph “Performing Furniture” by Alexander Rodchenko and the work of Rodchenko’s partner and collaborator, Varvara Stepanova, an artist connected to the constructivist branch of the Russian avant-garde. This piece is influenced by the constructivist view of the body as a kind of machine, with the theater serving as a space to explore its mechanisms (March 1-2).
2023 Guggenheim Fellow Nejla Yatkin offers viewers a theatrical solo dance in “Ouroboros.” The performance draws influence from the icon of the Ouroboros, a symbol of a dragon or serpent eating its tail, representing a cycle of destruction and rebirth. Yatkin’s work creates a narrative told through multiple languages: English, German, Turkish and American Sign Language. It features an original composition by musical artist Shamou, as well as a song by Yatkin. Spectators will be ushered into a nomadic tent and welcomed with rosewater and Turkish delights as soon as they arrive, and at the end of the show, they are encouraged to join a dance party (March 22-23).
Multicultural Arts Center | Feb. 22
Compelling storytelling will shine through in “Grey Space/Blue Skies,” uniting dancer/choreographer Jenny Oliver and marimbaist Steph Davis in Cambridge. Oliver is known for developing “culturally responsive movement projects and experiences” at museums and public spaces in the Greater Boston area. Meanwhile, Davis channels traditions from across the African diaspora to “fire audiences’ imaginations and inspire listeners to reach for collective liberations. In this work presented by Celebrity Series of Boston, the audience will have a chance to see their creative talents in action, supported by their mission of elevating marginalized voices.
Berklee Performance Center | Feb. 22
For one evening, dance enthusiasts will be treated to a creation that joins the artistry of award-winning Scottish folk band Talisk and Irish dancing duo the Gardiner Brothers. The “Unleashed” showcase will be high energy, featuring dynamic melodies and sensational choreography. Talisk was formed in 2015 and has been celebrated for innovative folk music, while the Gardiner Brothers, hailing from Galway, have been recognized for their “fast-paced, rhythmic style and charismatic stage presence,” according to a press release.
Arrow Street Arts | Feb. 27-March 9
ANIKAYA Dance Theater presents “Conference of the Birds,” which draws inspiration from a 12th-century poem by Persian writer Farid Ud din Attar. The show also integrates stories from modern-day refugees and other migrants. Attar’s piece relates the tale of birds who embark on a search for the mythical bird, the Simurgh. Through their journey, they eventually realize that they themselves are the Simurgh. Dancers from Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. will star, and the performance is set to original music by Shaw Pong Liu, Shahou Andalibi and Eric Reynaud.
Multicultural Arts Center | March 8
Audience participation is encouraged at this lively and joyful song and dance experience in Cambridge, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston. Audiences will be immersed in Wampanoag culture as performers don traditional dress and use water drums and handmade rattles to celebrate our connection to our world and environment. The natural realm is a focus — our relationship to the earth, sky, animals, plants and insects is a strong theme conveyed throughout the performance. The event will be family-friendly and will allow audience members of all ages to learn about 12,000 years of Wampanoag heritage.
ICA | March 14-15
Enjoy short dance works tied together by the color red, presented by Global Arts Live. After Iranian-Hispanic choreographer Roya Carreras Fereshtehnejad was diagnosed with two types of cancer, Boston Dance Theater commissioned the artist to create a piece that “recalls the sensations where the experience of fighting for your life, holding on to each minute, and letting go all collide into the here and now,” according to Global Arts Live’s website. The result is “Red is a feeling,” set to the music of Boston Dance Theater founder and co-director Jessie Jeanne Stinnett’s “Fifties,” a compilation of pop songs from the 1950s.
