New York City Center, New York, NY.
September 24, 2026.
Fall for Dance, NYC’s requisite autumnal dance festival, returned to New York City Center from September 22-October 3. The festival features five different programs, 11 premieres, and two City Center-commissioned works. This year also hosted seven international companies from Spain, Israel, the UK, Germany, and Australia. On the evening of my attendance, I saw works from Philadanco! The Philadelphia Dance Company, Robbie Fairchild’s Players and Boston Ballet. As per usual for this event, the house was packed and excitement very high. Fall for Dance Festival typically showcases an eclectic array of works, and this program kept with that tradition. To my mind, however, each piece shifted to the next beautifully, showcased each other and all defined themselves clearly.
The show opened with Heirborne (my mama ain’t never touched the sky, but she gave me wings) by Juel D. Lane for Philadanco! The piece was inspired by the concept of flight, both literally in the form of the Tuskegee Airmen and Bessie Coleman (examples of groups – Black and female – who rose above oppression), and figuratively in the sense of flight being hereditary across generations. The idea of flying into newer versions of ourselves permeates the piece, using driving propulsion coupled with deeply grounded movement styles. Lane honored the history of these styles and blended them together with the spectacle of competition-style showmanship to create a work that lets the audience see the music with great clarity, and showed how the melding of styles can create something far greater than the sum of their parts when conceived with clear intention.
It can be tricky to transition from contemporary work to ballet, but not in the case of Robbie Fairchild’s Lord Chamberlain’s Men. A reimagined take of the times of Shakespeare, rooted in the idea of male homosexuality taking a prominent role in artist’s life, this piece felt as current and alive as any cutting edge contemporary choreography, and it was largely grounded in ballet. In addition to the six-person live onstage musical ensemble, it also featured (hilarious) narration from the dancers who were often out of breath, giving the work enough of a crack in the fourth wall to successfully buffer any risk of insufferable grandiose tendency, while driving the story forward in a relatable way. Fall for Dance, which commissioned this work, mentioned the risk of Fairchild being a new choreographer, but the result is what can happen when artists “retire young” but continue to seek dance and art in news ways that support their authenticity as multi-layered artists. Also in this category is Lauren Lovette (former New York City Ballet [NYCB] Principal and current Resident Choreographer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company), who finally returned to a NYC stage following her retirement for NYCB in 2021. Watching the evolution of both she and Fairchild was a testament to the value of supporting artists to grow in their artistry.
Vertical Road (Reimagined) 2023, choreographed for Boston Ballet by Akram Khan and performed by the company this evening, was the first time NYC audiences had a chance to see this stunning ballet. Famously, the work changes each time it’s performed due to the immersive, exclusive and extensive rehearsal process. The dancers spend six weeks working on this piece bringing unique qualities, born of whatever they are all going through emotionally at the time, into the work. Striking in its profound humanity, the process clearly shows how authentic exploration results in a piece that garnered the deep focus of the audience. It’s a journey of the human condition, revealing the heartbreak of power, greed, arrogance and the inevitable consequence of choice. Despite those unsavory themes (that we see so frequently in the world around us), Vertical Road stays grounded in the strength of community, and the idea that honesty is stunningly gorgeous.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
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