Address:
175 Eighth Ave.
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-242-0800
Website: joyce.org
Description: The Joyce has designed this ballet festival to recognize the many dancers and choreographers who are creating work outside the traditional large company milieu and are forming their own small companies. Featured are companies from across the US, whose work represents a range of ballet styles, from neo classical to contemporary. Founded in 2009 by former Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Oliver Wevers, Whim W'Him is a Seattle-based company that describes itself as both "entirely classic and entirely now." For its Joyce debut, the company performs Flower Festival, a re-working of the pas de deux from August Bournonville's 1842 ballet Flower Festival in Genzano, in which Wevers replaces the original male/female dancers and peasant costumes with two men in business suits. The result is neither mockery or parody, but a slightly funny and oddly touching transition of the old into the new. The program also includes Monster, a piece consisting of three duets that explore the inherent monstrosity of society, addiction, and relationships.
Venue Description: The Joyce Theater, founded in 1982, is a performance venue in Chelsea dedicated to dance and the related arts of music, design, and theater. The Joyce supports and promotes all styles of dance and strives to educate a diverse audience about this art form. It has hosted more than 270 New York City-based, national, and international dance companies and welcomes an audience of about 140,000 each year to its 472-seat theater. The space originally was the Elgin Theater, a 1941 movie house, but was renovated by architect Hugh Hardy into the patterned brick, art-deco building it is today. Since 1996 The Joyce has also operated Joyce SoHo in lower Manhattan, a more intimate dance center equipped with two dance studios and a 74-seat performance space. The Joyce partners with NYC schools, arts institutions, and community organizations to bring dance education to diverse audiences and integrate the arts into classroom learning. Its school programs reach more than 2,000 students and teachers in K-12th grade. The Joyce also hosts Family Matinees, specially priced afternoon performances geared toward audiences ages 6-14 and their families. To further increase children?s exposure to dance, the theater offers a Joyce Jr. membership. The Joyce?s Dance Humanities Series offers post-performance discussions with artistic directors and dancers, and its free Dance Talks program (held at Joyce SoHo) presents conversations and open rehearsals for artists and audiences. Its sister venue, Joyce SoHo, is located at 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets. The Joyce Theater box office is open daily noon-6pm and through curtain time on performance days.
Upcoming Events at The Joyce Theater:
