Debuts by the choreographers Kyle Marshall and Hope Boykin, as well as a series of dance works set to the composer Philip Glass’s piano études, will come to the Joyce Theater during its fall/winter season, the theater announced on Thursday.
This is the first full season programmed under Danni Gee, who last year succeeded Aaron Mattocks as director of programming, with themes of resistance and return, and featuring companies and dance artists from five continents.
“We are about diversity, we are about exploring, we’re about live music and we’re about engaging with the audience,” Gee said. “This season really taps into all that.”
The season, which will run from September through March, starts with “Heart of Brick” (Sept. 15-22), a theatrical dance work that follows the gentle love story of two men in a Black gay nightclub, by the choreographer Raja Feather Kelly, the R&B musician Serpentwithfeet and the multimedia artist Wu Tsang.
International offerings include the Burkina Faso-born musician and choreographer Olivier Tarpaga’s “Once the dust settles, flowers bloom” (Oct. 3-8), an evening-length work honoring the courage and resilience of refugees from his home country; the return of the Tokyo-based company Sankai Juku (Oct. 24 to Nov. 5), which pays homage to the Japanese dance theater style of Butoh; and the French Compagnie Hervé Koubi (Jan. 23-28), with “Sol Invictus,” a sun-worshipping mix of breakdance, acrobatics and capoeira set to music including a score by Mikael Karlsson.
As part of the Dance Reflections festival, “Dancing With Glass: The Piano Études” (Nov. 28 to Dec. 10) six choreographers — including Chanon Judson of Urban Bush Women and Justin Peck — will respond to Glass’s 20 piano études, played by Maki Namekawa.
Also on the lineup is the world premiere of Hope Boykin’s “States of Hope” (Oct. 17-22), that former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancer’s movement-language memoir, with an original score by the jazz drummer Ali Jackson. Kyle Marshall Choreography (Nov. 8-12) will make its Joyce debut with three New York premieres: “Ruin,” an investigation into the human relationship to sound; “Alice,” a solo work about the spiritual journey to self-acceptance, with music by Alice Coltrane; and “Onyx,” a commemoration of the artists of color who revolutionized the genre of Rock ’n’ Roll, with music by Little Richard, James Brown, Tina Turner and more.
Other return engagements include performances by Ronald K. Brown and his Brooklyn-based company Evidence (Jan. 16-21); Philadanco, the Philadelphia dance company known for championing Black dancers (Feb. 6-10); and Twyla Tharp Dance (Feb. 13-25), with two world premieres.
“If I can have any sort of theme for my first season it’s that I want everyone to feel welcome in my home, whether they are onstage or in the audience,” said Gee, who danced at the Joyce in 1990 with Philadanco. “To land here after all these years, I’m just in awe.”