From ‘Lord of the Dance’ to MOMIX to Derek Hough, fall is jumping in CT with live dance shows

Dance is central to the Connecticut arts world. The state has supported various ballet companies and schools for a century or more and is also in the history books for premiering works by Martha Graham, Jose Limòn, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp and many other great choreographers at Connecticut College’s American Dance Festival from the late 1940s into the mid-1970s.

The upcoming slate of fall dance shows is proof Connecticut is still a dance magnet: Colleges continue to innovate, local dance companies are strong and some of the biggest names in dance regularly tour through the state.

We won’t bother with “Nutcracker” listings for now. Here are some hot dances coming up in the next few months.

Famed Connecticut dance/movement troupe, MOMIX, returns to UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs on Oct. 12. The performance by the Sergio Bernal Dance Company announced for that venue on the same night was postponed.

Dance is a major element of Trinity College’s 200th anniversary Fall Bicentennial Weekend Oct. 13-15. There’s an upbeat multidisciplinary dance/music/circus celebration called “Joy!” getting three performances on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Goodwin Theater on the Trinity campus at 300 Summit St. in Hartford. “Joy!” is directed and choreographed by Tandy Beal, whose California-based dance company has toured the world. The show features some of Beal’s regular collaborators such as Cirque du Soleil soloists Jeff Raz and Diane Wasnak, the a cappella vocal group SoVoSó, contortionist Fleeky Franko, hula hooper Natasha Kaluza and “Ethiopian Foot Juggler Extraordinaire” Eht Hailu. But there’s also a strong Trinity component to the performance, overseen by Peter Kyle, chair of the school’s dance department, Kathak dance artist Rachna Agrawal, hip-hop artist Brandon Couloute, Trinity dance students, local dancer Isaiah Artis and students from the Hartford Academy of the Arts.

‘Lord of the Dance’ steps back to Connecticut in November for 25th anniversary tour

“L’Onde,” an hour-long “minimalist dance ritual” from choreographer Nacera Belaza’s Paris-based company Compagnie Nacera Belaza, will be at Wesleyan University’s CFA Theater in Middletown on Oct. 13 and 14 at 7 p.m. It’s the U.S. premiere of the piece, which is described as “an inner journey that grows to build a world around the audience.”

Dance is a big part of the community-drive Immersive Art Fest on Oct. 14 from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Bushnell in Hartford. Among the events are workshops with breakdancer PopTart and modern dancer Savana Jones. The festival is free.

The movie “Dirty Dancing” was turned into a touring musical theater show about a decade ago. Now, it’s taken yet another form. “Dirty Dancing in Concert” features the movie screened alongside a live band and singers that perform the songs. The screening is followed by a dance and sing-along party at The Bushnell on Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Ballet Hartford, a new company that began as Vivid Ballet in 2016, kicked off its season on Oct. 6 with a night of “works in progress” at its home base at 224 EcoSpace and is performing its “Homage to Balanchine” on Oct. 22 at 10 a.m.

Connecticut’s world-renowned, internationally touring dance/movement troupe Pilobolus, which has been based in Washington Depot for half a century, has a local show on Oct. 28 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven.

The Bushnell is also hosting an Indian Arts Foundation event on Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. featuring “Krishna Leela,” a dance theater production featuring over 50 dancers, musicians and artists from the Indian community in Connecticut.

Eastern Connecticut Ballet is holding six spooky performances of its annual family-friendly “Ballet Spooktacular” on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. The 11:30 a.m. Oct. 28 one is sensory-friendly. It’s a short program of fantasy dances like “Dancing Bones” (which features glow-in-the-dark skeletons) and the classic “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

Connecticut College in New London, which has a long history of supporting modern dance, welcomes back the David Dorfman Dance company with “(A)Way Out of My Body” on Nov. 4 at the school’s Palmer Auditorium. The dance, which the company said “uses out-of-body experience as a metaphor for our times and our body politic,” had its regional premiere at Connecticut College in early 2020 and is perhaps more relevant now than it was then.

The University of Saint Joseph’s annual 5×5 Contemporary Dance Festival happens Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Autorino Center on the school’s campus in West Hartford. The fest showcases five local dance companies as well as five college dance ensembles and is one of the best dance community events of the year.

UConn’s Jorgensen Center, which usually boasts more touring dance companies than almost any other performing arts center in the state, is also bringing in the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company on Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.

Another household name for dance fans is Michael Flatley. The 25th anniversary of the Irish dance superstar’s “Lord of the Dance” tour is Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, though Flatley himself has retired from dancing.

The Sacred Heart University dance program has a whole weekend of dance events Nov. 17-19, including “Dances at Dusk” featuring original works in a variety of dance styles on Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.; a two-part SHU student dance showcase with SHU Force, SHU Dance Ensemble and the SHU Claddagh Dance Team on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.; a professionally choreographed show called “Incandescence” on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.; and the Company Choreographic Fellowship Project on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. All shows are at the school’s Edgerton Center in Fairfield.

One of the most recognized faces in contemporary dance due to his decade on “Dancing With the Stars,” Derek Hough’s latest tour, “Symphony of Dance,” is at Mohegan Sun Arena on Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

Finally, New England Ballet Theatre is offering a “Nutcracker” alternative with “The Fantastic Toyshop” on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. at the Theater of Performing Arts on Washington Street in Hartford.