Sitting in the The Joyce Theater for a recent choreographers' salute to composer Philip Glass, it really hit home why The Joyce Theater is on the short list of the top places on the globe to experience the dance world's best…

Every seat in the house has excellent sight lines. The seating has a high rake, which may be part of its secret sauce for discovering dance innovation. In this recent homage to Glass' work, the pianist sat stage right, sometimes keeping the spotlight of attention entirely on her. No special lighting effects were needed. Intermingled with her performances of select Glass' piano études, were visual interpretations powered by diverse choreographers' visions– or rather their hearing and feeling of an étude from this famed Glass work. They made the music visual.

The Joyce Theater is not the only perfect-for-dance venue, but US dance lovers with long memories will recognize it as one of the world's first. You can read on the Joyce website "...Since opening in 1982, The Joyce Theater has supported the dance community by providing a home for more than 400 domestic and international companies and by offering an annual 45 to 48-week season which, each year, allows more than 150,000 audience members to experience diverse, popular and challenging performances…" What this doesn't say is that before the Joyce opened its doors, there really weren't too many New York venues that were so tailor-made for dance performances. Back in the day, if you wanted to plug into the creative roots of the New York dance scene, you had to prepare yourself for long sits on gymnasium floors.

Then as now, New York was and is THE de facto center of the US dance world. It just didn't have a comely home until The Joyce Theater arrived. Much as stage actors think of New York's Broadway as their career pinnacle destination, many US dancers have thought of New York as a requisite stop on their career path.

Many visitors to The Joyce Theater vicinity might not appreciate that they are walking near this dance world mecca, so to speak. The theater is in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, which makes it more onto the typical world traveler's map as the GO TO PLACE for art galleries in New York.

Chelsea is art AND dance. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance includes over 300 performances. Visitors to New York City in 2024 make note of this announcement by The Joyce Theater of their spring and summer 2024 lineup. Their spokesperson lists—

* * *

THE JOYCE THEATER SPRING/SUMMER '24 SEASON

March 12-24

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago*

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

March 26-31

Trisha Brown Dance Company

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

April 2-7

Max Roach 100*

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

April 9-14

Ailey II

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

April 16-21

Sydney Dance Company: ab [intra]*

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

April 23-28

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca: Searching for Goya

Tickets: $12-$82 (including fees)

May 1-5

American Ballet Theatre Studio Company

Tickets: $12-$62 (including fees)

May 7-12

Gibney Company

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

May 14-25

Parsons Dance

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

May 30-June 2

Ballet Tech Kids Dance

Tickets: $12-$52 (including fees)

June 4-9

Oona Doherty: Navy Blue*

Tickets: $12-$62 (including fees)

June 11-16

Introdans: ENERGY*

Tickets: $12-$62 (including fees)

June 18-23

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana: EQUILIBRIO (Clásica/Tradición)

Tickets: $12-$62 (including fees)

June 25-30

Paul Taylor Dance Company: Extreme Taylor

Tickets: $12-$82 (including fees)

July 2-7

tanzmainz: Soul Chain*

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

July 9-14

Smuin Contemporary Ballet

Tickets: $12-$72 (including fees)

July 16-21

Dorrance Dance*

Tickets: $12-$82 (including fees)

July 23-August 11

Pilobolus: re:CREATION*

Tickets: $12-$82 (including fees)

August 13-18

Ballet Festival: UNITE*

Tickets: $12-$92 (including fees)

For more information, visit:

The Joyce Theater website -https://www.joyce.org/

All photos courtesy of The Joyce Theater--

Glass Performance photos by Steven Pisano

Joyce facility photos by: Eric Vitale Photography

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