The Works & Process fall season, the largest yet, will feature several of the most recognized names in the ballet space.
This year, the series is providing a platform for new artistic directors from American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and San Francisco Ballet to share their artistic visions as well as hosting conversation between renowned ballet photographer Paul Kolnik and New York City Ballet‘s Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan.
Works & Process is a champion of the creative process, supporting performing artists and providing the public with behind-the-scenes access to new works. As an organization without physical boundaries, it relies heavily on collaborations and partnerships for success.
Building on the success of their bubble residencies, Works & Process LaunchPAD’s “Process as Destination” program enters its second year. These residencies provide fully-funded creative residencies to artists, which include transportation, health insurance enrollment access, 24/7 studio availability, and on-site housing, in various locations in New York and Massachusetts.
Recognizing that the artistic process is a continuous journey, these residencies culminate in iterative performances and public programs that share the creative process with local communities and, eventually, with audiences in New York City.
Furthermore, seven Works & Process commissions developed through our bubble residencies and LaunchPAD residencies will embark on tours to six states and the District of Columbia.
The programs will continue to highlight Works & Process’s unwavering support for street and social dance with the belief that concert dance can be more inclusive and that the funding and recognition for the creative process should be increased.
The Works & Process fall season will conclude with family programs including Peter & the Wolf and Third Bird, led by Isaac Mizrahi, as well as the beloved Rotunda Holiday Concert featuring Charles Turner & Uptown Swing with Jasmine Rice LaBeija.
This autumn, Works & Process will showcase its programming at the Guggenheim Museum and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in partnership with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.
Works & Process Fall Season Ballet Highlights
Works & Process at the Guggenheim
- American Ballet Theatre: The Art of Storytelling with Susan Jaffe (Sun, Oct 8, 3 and 7:30 pm)
Newly appointed Artistic Director Susan Jaffe leads a program illuminating how the art of storytelling is at the heart of American Ballet Theatre. Members of ABT’s artistic team participate in the discussion, and dancers perform highlights of iconic classics and one-act story ballets.
- San Francisco Ballet: New Vision with Tamara Rojo and Aszure Barton (Sun, Oct 15, 3 and 7:30 pm)
In her first season as San Francisco Ballet’s artistic director, Tamara Rojo will center cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations, celebrate the artists and histories of San Francisco, and spotlight women’s voices on stage and off.
In this Works & Process program, go behind the scenes of the newly commissioned Mere Mortals, with music by Floating Points and choreography by Aszure Barton. Aiming to provide an immersive and visceral experience for the audience’s senses, the work will recontextualize the classic parable of Pandora’s box for our modern world and mark the first full-length work SF Ballet has commissioned from a female choreographer.
Join Rojo and Barton as they discuss the creative process and how the work will take on the possibilities and consequences of artificial intelligence. Company dancers perform excerpts ahead of the ballet’s world premiere on January 26, 2024.
- Dance Theatre of Harlem: Diaspora with Robert Garland, with Dionne Figgins, Alicia Graf Mack, Tai Jimenez, and Melanie Person (Sun and Mon, Oct 29 and 30, 7:30 pm)
In his first season as artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), Robert Garland celebrates the DTH diaspora with a program that celebrates DTH’s multi-faceted founder Arthur Mitchell and his lasting impact as a coach, teacher, arts leader, and mentor.
Four DTH alums – Dionne Figgins, Director, Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech; Alicia Graf Mack, Director, Juilliard School Dance Division; Tai Jimenez, Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem School; and Melanie Person, Co-Director, The Ailey School, Director, Ailey/Fordham BFA – will coach DTH company dancers and participate in discussions moderated by Garland that explore how their time at DTH resonates in their work.
- Lar Lubovitch at 80: Art of the Duet: Dancers from Bruce Wood Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet (Sun, Dec 3, 3 and 7:30 pm)
Creating and dancing a duet can be intimate, exhilarating, and very personal; few know this better than Lar Lubovitch. In honor of his 80th year, Works & Process has invited the choreographer to assemble a cast of dancers to perform some of his favorite duets and discuss the act of creation and performance.
Featured works include Each in His Own Time commissioned by New York City Center and performed by New York City Ballet’s Adrian Danchig-Waring and Joseph Gordon; Othello performed by Joffrey Ballet’s Fabrice Calmels and San Francisco Ballet’s Yuan Yuan Tan; Prelude to A Kiss performed by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Dvorak Serenade performed by Bruce Wood Dance; and the iconic Concerto 622 by Lar Lubovitch Dance Company’s Tobin Del Cuore and Brett Perry.
- Works & Process Dance Conversation: Photography: Paul Kolnik, Photographing New York City Ballet, with Wendy Whelan (Thu, Sept 7, 6 pm)
For five decades, photographer Paul Kolnik has been an intimate collaborator with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet (NYCB). His images have captured and become a significant part of the visual iconography of the company, allowing us to experience both the ephemeral nature of the dance and timelessness of a photograph.
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the New York City Ballet, Kolnik has selected his most iconic images of the company, illuminating his unique artistic perspective.
For this Works & Process dance conversation, Kolnik speaks with NYCB’s Artistic Associate Director, Wendy Whelan.
Featured Photo for the Works & Process Fall Season of former New York City Ballet principal Karin von Aroldingen and company in George Balanchine’s Serenade. Photo © Paul Kolnik
