NEW YORK CITY BALLET
The season opens with a celebration of a partnership that transformed dance—the collaboration of Balanchine and Stravinsky. On opening night, Sept. 18, the company performs three pieces that display the two artists’ unity of vision: “Apollo” (1928), “Orpheus” (1948), and “Agon” (1957). “Apollo,” originally made for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, is a modernist manifesto. “Orpheus” is more grave; it was also the work that led to the company’s establishment at its first home, City Center. And “Agon,” inspired by European court dances and ancient-Greek contests of skill, builds to one of the most erotic pas de deux Balanchine ever made. (David H. Koch, Lincoln Center. 212-870-5570. Sept. 18 at 7:30. Through Oct. 14.)
“A GUIDE TO KINSHIP AND MAYBE MAGIC”
Isabel Lewis comes from an artistically inclined family; she and her three siblings perform in a collective called Lewis Forever, one half of which is based in New York, the other in Berlin. Isabel’s newest work is an exploration of kinship, as viewed through the eyes of an impostor, played by the Brooklyn playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whose insider/outsider vantage point provides perspective on family dynamics. The work combines movement, spoken text, and a projection of the film “Sister,” a noir family portrait by the Lewis foursome. (Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, at Chambers St. 212-227-9856. Sept. 12-15 at 7:30.)
NORA CHIPAUMIRE / “MIRIAM”
Chipaumire, the former associate artistic director of Urban Bush Women, has a formidable stage presence, which she deploys in works that probe clichés about Africa. (Chipaumire left Zimbabwe in 1989.) The eponymous Miriam is Miriam Makeba, the South African singer and songwriter, who used her fame to shed light on the abuses of apartheid, and paid for it with exile. The show includes live music by the Afro-Cuban composer Omar Sosa; the actress Okwui Okpokwasili also performs. (Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Pl., Brooklyn. 718-636-4100. Sept. 12-15 at 7:30.)
BRIAN ROGERS
Inspired by the actors who underwent body-punishing ordeals during the filming of “Apocalypse Now” and “Fitzcarraldo,” Rogers, who rarely appears in his work, and his usual muse, Madeline Best, begin “Hot Box” well before the audience arrives, by getting drunk and exhausting themselves. The ensuing performance is seen principally via live video feed, as Rogers and Best attempt to establish and maintain stillness amid chaos, noise, and more drinking. (The Chocolate Factory, 5-49 49th Ave., Long Island City. 212-352-3101. Sept. 13-15 and Sept. 17-18 at 8. Through Sept. 22.)
CLARINDA MAC LOW
As Danspace Project’s season-long focus on the Judson era continues, the performance artist Mac Low assembles a motley crew to act out poems written in the early sixties by her late father, Jackson Mac Low. His “The Pronouns: A Collection of Forty Dances for the Dancers” includes “giving the neck a knifing” among other phrases that suggest action. Simone Forti, an original Judson member, performs Mac Low père’s “Nuclei for Simone Forti.” (Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery, Second Ave. at 10th St. 866-811-4111. Sept. 13-15 at 8.)
LUCINDA CHILDS
During Judson Dance Theatre’s fourth concert, in 1963, Childs stretched inside a bag made of blue jersey. That central section of her three-part work “Pastime” cast a cool, ironic glance at Alvin Nikolais and Martha Graham. As her choreography for Philip Glass’s opera “Einstein on the Beach” returns to BAM this month, Childs comes to Danspace to screen excerpts from “Pastime,” along with footage of “Screen” (1965), and to lead a discussion of her Judson-era work. (Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery, Second Ave. at 10th St. 866-811-4111. Sept. 17 at 7.)
LIMÓN DANCE COMPANY
The Simón Bolívar National Youth Choir of Venezuela is in town, one hundred strong, trained in the famous El Sistema program. In the second half of the performance, the choir is joined by Limón dancers in José Limón’s “Missa Brevis” (1958), set to the abbreviated Mass written by Zoltán Kodály during the siege of Budapest in the Second World War. The spiritually searching dance for a large cast should gain poignance from the robust, youthful voices. (Lincoln Center. 212-875-5788. Sept. 17 at 8.)
SOLEDAD BARRIO NOCHE FLAMENCA / “FLORES PARA LOS MUERTOS”
After years of performing at smaller venues, this flamenco troupe is receiving the attention it deserves—this is its second season at the Joyce. The evening includes alternating solos, duets, and musical numbers. Barrio is a dancer of extraordinary ferocity and purity. In addition to her signature seguiriya, she presents a work inspired by her mother and the resistance of many Spanish women to Franco’s regime (“Rosa”). This season, she is joined by Miguel Tellez, who revels in subtle variations of rhythm, and Alejandro Granados, whose performances are full of bluster. (175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St. 212-242-0800. Sept. 18 at 7:30. Through Sept. 30.)
“VOICES OF STRENGTH”
The voices in this two-part mini-festival belong to five women choreographers from Africa, who bring messages of female empowerment. In the first program, Nelisiwe Xaba, from South Africa, and Kettly Noël, a Haitian based in war-torn Mali, offer “Correspondances,” a spoken and danced conversation with a satirical edge, and Nadia Beugré, from Ivory Coast, performs “Quartiers Libres,” a call-to-action solo. The second program pairs Maria Helena Pinto, a leading light in Mozambique, and “Sombra,” her work about marginalized African women, with the Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen, who shares her “Madame Plaza” and a few mattresses with three ample-bodied traditional singers. (New York Live Arts, 219 W. 19th St. 212-924-0077. Sept. 18 at 7:30. Through Sept. 22.)
FAUSTIN LINYEKULA / “LE CARGO”
As part of the Alliance Française’s “Crossing the Line” festival, the Congolese artist Faustin Linyekula performs his first evening-length solo work. Over the last decade, Linyekula has drawn inspiration from the tortured history of Congo (formerly Zaire). Blood, memory, and Africa’s colonial heritage are constant reference points, explored in personal anecdotes and detailed phrases of graceful, fractured movement. Performed in a tight circle of light, this is his most intimate work yet. (Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St. 800-982-2787. Sept. 18 at 8.)
