Most of the major companies in the small but vibrant Dallas dance scene are putting on shows this month. The concerts cover a gamut of styles from classical ballet to cutting edge contemporary work, from jazz dance to flamenco.
The troupes include Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Ochre House Theater, Pegasus Contemporary Ballet, Beckles Dancing Company, Bruce Wood Dance Dallas and the student ensemble of Southern Methodist University鈥檚 dance division. Meanwhile, presenter TITAS/Dance Unbound is bringing Canada鈥檚 Anne Plamondon Danse to town for its U.S. debut.
Plamondon is best known for her work with the innovative Mexican American choreographer Victor Quijada, whose unique style blends hip-hop, ballet and modern dance. From 2002 to 2015, she was part of Quijada鈥檚 Montreal-based Rubberband Dance Group, first as a performer, then as co-artistic director. She collaborated with fellow Canadian Crystal Pite and Pite鈥檚 group Kidd Pivot during that same period.
Her company will perform her 2023 work, Myokine (Nov. 7-8), named for the protein released during exercise. These 鈥渉ope molecules鈥� help regulate metabolism, muscle growth and repair, inflammation and organ function. Plamondon characterizes the piece as an exploration of the body 鈥渁s a source of resilience, beauty and hope in the face of the urgency to act that characterizes our times.鈥�
If that sounds politically tinged, it鈥檚 not the only such approach on the dance schedule. One of three new works that Dallas Black Dance is premiering on this year鈥檚 Director鈥檚 Choice program (Nov. 7-8) is Fort Worth-based choreographer and educator Christen Reyes鈥� The Wage of Existence, described as 鈥渁 visceral exploration of the human condition under capitalism, exposing the relentless exchange between survival and sacrifice.鈥�
The concerts also feature the debuts of The Breath Within by DBDT junior company artistic director Nycole Ray and Pilobolus company member Krystal Butler鈥檚 A Love I Once Knew, along with a revival of German American choreographer and Guggenheim fellow Nejla Yatkin鈥檚 Lost in Memory.
Dallas flamenco artists Antonio Arrebola and Delilah Buitr贸n Arrebola and New Orleans second-line preservationist Michelle Gibson recently appeared together in a production of Yemay谩 Flamenco as part of Cara Mia Theatre鈥檚 Latinidadas Festival. Now they are involved in separate shows.
The Arrebolas portray King Aragon and Queen Trianna in their latest dance-theater collaboration with Ochre House. Artistic director Matthew Posey鈥檚 Libro de los Sue帽os Olvidados (Nov. 1-13) is a fantasy about two homely sisters who steal a book of spells with plans to use it to turn them into movie stars. Instead they conjure a world of magical creatures. Flamenco music will be performed by singer Chayito Champion and guitarist Calvin Hazen.
Gibson, founder of performance and educational group the Original BuckShop and professor of practice at SMU, has created an Afro-modern, second-line jazz piece for the school鈥檚 Fall Dance Concert (Nov. 13-16). It premieres alongside a new work by jazz dance professor Brandi Coleman, a restaging of David Parsons鈥� witty and virtuosic The Envelope and a pair of excerpts from Act III of August Bournonville鈥檚 classic 1842 ballet Napoli.
On the contemporary ballet front, Pegasus is premiering artistic director Diana Crowder鈥檚 immersive The Egg, based on The Martian author Andy Weir鈥檚 short story of the same name. The piece explores themes of life and death and is set to a commissioned score by Grammy-winning violinist Scott Tixier.
鈥淔rom the way that we're using the space in the round, to incorporating some immersive theater elements, this production is really created to invite you into the world of The Egg,鈥� Crowder says.
Rounding out the month, Beckles Dancing Company is hosting the South Dallas Dance Festival (Nov. 14-15, program not yet announced) and Bruce Wood Dance is putting on a triple bill (Nov. 21-23) that includes a new work commissioned from Robert Battle, former artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, set to jazz score by Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Sean Jones and Seatbelts.
The shows also feature Wood鈥檚 classic No Sea to Sail In, described by company artistic adviser Kimi Nikaidoh as 鈥渁 stark and suspenseful ballet noir,鈥� and his mentor Lar Lubovitch鈥檚 Concerto Six Twenty-Two.
Details
Tickets at,,,,, and.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
