New York, NY (July 13, 2022) – Five of NYC’s most iconic dance companies—Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem—return for the second BAAND Together Dance Festival, sharing the spotlight and an outdoor stage as a part of Summer for the City, Lincoln Center’s new program that activates the entire campus under one banner offering hundreds of free live shows this summer season.
From August 9–13, audiences will see repertory favorites as well as a new World Premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa each night. One for All, commissioned by Lincoln Center and featuring dancers from each of the five companies, is set to Manteca by Funky Lowlives/Dizzy Gillespie. Each unique and exciting evening of programming has been curated collaboratively by the artistic directors of the five companies. In the afternoons, each organization will also bring its unique teaching style to the Lincoln Center campus with daily education workshops, appropriate for all ages! The Festival is made possible by CHANEL, whose engagement with dance was forged over a century ago by its founder, Gabrielle Chanel.
Statement from the artistic directors of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Artistic Director Robert Battle), American Ballet Theatre (Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie), Ballet Hispánico (Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro), Dance Theatre of Harlem (Artistic Director Virginia Johnson), and New York City Ballet (Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford, Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan):
Last year’s BAAND Together Dance Festival was a resounding success, proof that New York audiences are excited for their beloved dance companies to return to the stage. This year we will go beyond performing side by side and do so together, as a unified dance family, through an exciting new work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. This new work is a testament to our commitment for building new avenues of cultural innovation, dialogue, and accessibility for our incredible city.
Performance Schedule (subject to change):
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
One for All, World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Cry by Alvin Ailey
Ballet Hispánico – Con Brazos Abiertos by Michelle Manzanales
Dance Theatre of Harlem – When Love by Helen Pickett
American Ballet Theatre – Children’s Songs Dance by Jessica Lang
New York City Ballet – Red Angels by Ulysses Dove
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
One for All, World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Ballet Hispánico – Con Brazos Abiertos by Michelle Manzanales
New York City Ballet – Red Angels by Ulysses Dove
American Ballet Theatre – Children’s Songs Dance by Jessica Lang
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Love Stories finale by Robert Battle
Dance Theatre of Harlem – Return by Robert Garland
Thursday, August 11, 2022
One for All, World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Ballet Hispánico – Club Havana by Pedro Ruiz
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre – Pas de Duke by Alvin Ailey (Jacquelin Harris, Ailey, and Herman Cornejo, ABT)
New York City Ballet – Red Angels by Ulysses Dove
Dance Theatre of Harlem – When Love by Helen Pickett
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Love Stories finale by Robert Battle
Friday, August 12, 2022
One for All, World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Dance Theatre of Harlem – Return by Robert Garland
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Cry by Alvin Ailey
New York City Ballet – Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre – Pas de Duke by Alvin Ailey (Jacquelin Harris, Ailey, and Herman Cornejo, ABT)
Ballet Hispánico – Club Havana by Pedro Ruiz
Saturday, August 13, 2022
American Ballet Theatre – Children’s Songs Dance by Jessica Lang
Ballet Hispánico – Club Havana by Pedro Ruiz
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Cry by Alvin Ailey
Dance Theatre of Harlem – When Love by Helen Pickett
New York City Ballet – Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine
One for All, World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Entry to all?Summer for the City?performances and events at Damrosch Park, The Oasis on Josie Robertson Plaza, the David Rubenstein Atrium, The Deck, Hearst Plaza, and The Speakeasy on Jaffe Drive will be available for free via General Admission—first-come, first-served. In addition to General Admission, we’re offering a free Advance Reservation option for select?Summer for the City?events held at Damrosch Park, “The Oasis,” and Hearst Plaza. With Advance Reservation, guests can get priority access to events by booking ahead of time. Event admission is only guaranteed until 10 minutes before showtime. Tickets for performances in Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theater will be available on a Choose-What-You-Pay basis. More at SummerForTheCity.org.
Presented as part of Festival of New York, Summer for the City builds on the success of Lincoln Center’s 2021 Restart Stages, which created an outdoor performing arts center so that the arts could continue during the pandemic. That initiative attracted an audience of more than 250,000 in person, nearly a quarter of whom were visiting Lincoln Center for the first time.
Summer for the City will animate every corner of the outdoor campus across 10 stages, as well as some of the indoor venues, with more than 300 artistic and civic activations.
Appointed in August 2021, this will be Shanta Thake’s first full season at Lincoln Center. Her new approach moves towards a seasonal model, unifying activities under a single curatorial idea, and deepens artistic and civic connections in order to expand reach. These tenets will guide LCPA’s programming year-round in the new David Geffen Hall and across campus. Additional programs will be announced in the coming months.
Summer for the City has been curated to help deepen Lincoln Center’s service to particular communities, including the Latinx/e, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ communities—along with expanding offerings for families with concerts, workshops, Storytimes, and Family Dance Days. The season also offers a multitude of events that celebrate and center Deaf and disabled identity, including Deaf Broadway’s Sweeney Todd, ILL-Abilities, Inside/Out presented by Ping Chong, and an Evening of Access Magic, featuring a Silent Disco, as well as adapted dance classes throughout the summer, and incorporating live captioning, Music: Not Impossible wearable technology for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members during select performances, and ASL-interpretation and sensory-friendly elements throughout the season’s offerings. The campus will also host dozens of pop-up performances, wellness events, graduations, voter engagement and polling, blood drives, and more as part of the summer season.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
When Alvin Ailey and a small group of African American dancers took the stage on March 30,1958 at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, the engagement was for one night only, but it turned out to be the start of a new era in the arts. Ailey envisioned a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience. He became one of the trailblazers of modern dance, and the Ailey organization grew to encompass education, community outreach, and cultural diplomacy. To date, the Company has performed for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents as well as millions more through television, film, and online. More than 270 works by over 100 choreographers have been part of the Ailey repertory. In 2008, a US Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.” Before his untimely death in 1989, Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”
About American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre is one of the greatest dance companies in the world. Revered as a national treasure since its founding season in 1940, its mission is to create, present, preserve, and extend the great repertoire of classical dancing for the widest possible audience. Headquartered in New York City, ABT is the only cultural institution of its size and stature to extensively tour, enchanting audiences for eight decades in 50 U.S. states, 45 countries, and over 480 cities worldwide. ABT’s repertoire includes full-length classics from the nineteenth century, the finest works from the early twentieth century, and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces. In 2006, by an act of Congress, ABT was designated America’s National Ballet Company®.
About Ballet Hispánico
Ballet Hispánico is the nation’s renowned Latino dance organization and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. Ballet Hispánico brings communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through innovative dance performances, transformative dance training, and enduring community engagement experiences.
Founded in 1970 by National Medal of Arts recipient, Tina Ramírez, the organization emerged during the post-civil rights movement on New York’s Upper West Side, providing a safe haven for primarily Black and Brown Latinx youth seeking artistic sanctuary during New York City’s plight in the 1970s. The need for place, both culturally and artistically, led families to find Ballet Hispánico. The focus on dance as a means to develop working artists, combined with the training, authenticity of voice, and power of representation, fueled the organization’s roots and trajectory.
With its strong emphasis on dance, achievement, and public presence, the organization has flourished in its three main programs: its Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships. The organization serves as a platform for historically omitted and overlooked artists providing them with increased capacity, voice, and affirmation.
Over the past five decades, by leading with Latinx culture at the forefront of performance, education, and advocacy, Ballet Hispánico’s mission is a catalyst of change and possibility for communities throughout our nation.
About Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem is a leading dance institution of unparalleled global acclaim, encompassing a world class company, a professional studio school, a leading arts education program – Dancing Through Barriers®, and community engagement activities. Each component of Dance Theatre of Harlem carries a solid commitment towards enriching the lives of young people and adults around the world through the arts. Founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, Dance Theatre of Harlem was considered “one of ballet’s most exciting undertakings” (The New York Times, 1971). Shortly after the assassination of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mitchell was inspired to start a school that would offer children — especially those in Harlem, the community in which he was born — the opportunity to learn about dance and the allied arts. Now in its sixth decade, Dance Theatre of Harlem has grown into a multi-cultural dance institution with an extraordinary legacy of providing opportunities for creative expression and artistic excellence that continues to set standards in the performing arts.
About New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies in the world, was founded in 1948 by the legendary choreographer George Balanchine and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, and quickly became world-renowned for its athletic and contemporary style. Jerome Robbins joined NYCB the following year and, with Balanchine, helped to build its extraordinary repertory. Today NYCB continues to be inspired by its founders who envisioned an authentically American expression of ballet with a company that reflects the rich cultural diversity of our city and nation. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford, Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, and Executive Director Katherine Brown, NYCB is deeply committed to creating and sustaining an organizational culture that values diversity, inclusion, and equity, promoting creative excellence, and nurturing a new generation of dancers and choreographers.
About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world’s leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit’s strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21st century and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life.
Made possible by Chanel #CHANELandDance
Major support provided by the Thompson Family Foundation
The BAAND Together Dance Festival is proud to be part of Summer for the City
Major support provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund
Endowment support is provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation Fund for Dance
Community programming at Damrosch Park is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)
Lead Support for Summer for the City Community Programming is provided by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)
Signature support for Summer for the City is provided by SK Group
Major support for Summer for the City is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the LuEsther Mertz Charitable Trust, and First Republic Bank
Additional support is provided by Chanel, the Ford Foundation, PGIM, the Shubert Foundation, Amazon, Warburg Pincus, the Scully Peretsman Foundation, and Lincoln Center’s 21/22 Donors and Members
Endowment support is provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation Fund for Dance, The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, Oak Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Programs are made possible, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor, Mayor of the City of New York, the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council
NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center
United is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center
Pianos by Steinway & Sons- the Artistic Choice of Lincoln Center
Five of New York’s Most Celebrated Companies,
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre,
Ballet Hispánico, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and New York City Ballet,
Join Forces Again as part of Summer for the City at Lincoln Center
Featuring a World Premiere Lincoln Center Commission
by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with Dancers from All Five Companies
FREE: August 9-13, 2022 at 7:30pm
Made possible by CHANEL
