Mark Morris Dance Group launches its 45th anniversary season at The Joyce Theater
This summer, the Mark Morris Dance Group returns to The Joyce Theater in New York, marking the company’s 45th anniversary season. It is only the company’s second time at the Joyce following last summer’s sold-out run.
From 15-26 July 2025, the company will present two programmes that celebrate Mark Morris’s body of work, showcasing choreography that has helped shape the course of contemporary dance through musical connection, emotional honesty, and consummate storytelling.
The two-week engagement includes two world premieres and offer audiences a chance to experience the past and present of Morris’s choreography.
“I’ve had a company for 45 years. We’re still making new work, still dancing, still putting music first,” says Morris. “The Joyce Theater is a great place to start this milestone season – intimate, direct, and built for what we do.”
Programme A, 15-19 July, offers the world premiere of You’ve Got to Be Modernistic, set to seven rarely heard compositions by Harlem stride piano legend James P. Johnson. The score, transcribed and arranged by jazz pianist Ethan Iverson who will perform it live at each performance. The programme also includes The Muir (2010), a lyrical and pastoral work set to Scottish and English folk songs, followed by Mosaic and United (1993), an “elegant and enigmatic quintet praised for its balance of form and feeling”. Rounding out the evening is Silhouettes (1999), a duet of neoclassical wit and delicate intricacy set to music by Richard Cumming.
Programme B, 22-26 July, centres on the world premiere of Northwest, a meditative new work set to compositions by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams. Drawing inspiration from the traditional songs and rhythms of the Athabascan and Yup’ik peoples of Alaska, this new work continues the company’s commitment to presenting music beyond the dominant Western canon and honouring the diverse cultural roots of movement traditions. Also on the programme is Ten Suggestions (1981), one of Morris’s earliest works – a playful and theatrical solo; The Argument (1999), an emotionally charged suite of breakups and reconciliations for three couples set to the music of Robert Schumann; and Going Away Party (1990), a high-spirited, honky-tonk dance inspired by country-western social gatherings.
Nancy Umanoff, Executive Director of the Mark Morris Dance Group, says, “This milestone celebration is a reflection of the people, principles, and collaborations that have shaped our work for 45 years. It reaffirms our belief that live performance matters: to artists, to audiences, and to the cultural life of this city.”
Every performance features live music – something Morris has always aspired to – brought to life by MMDG Music Director Colin Fowler and members of the MMDG Music Ensemble. Together, the dancers and musicians deliver the kind of full-bodied, full-hearted experience that has made Mark Morris Dance Group a cultural mainstay for 45 years.
SEASON INFORMATION
Performances will take place 15-26 July 2025; Tuesdays until Fridays at 7:30 PM, and Saturdays at 2 PM and 7:30 PM.
Tickets start at $10 and are available at The Joyce Theater box office and online at joyce.org.
Program A
The Muir (Scottish and English folk songs arranged by Beethoven)
You’ve Got To Be Modernistic (James P. Johnson)
Silhouettes (Richard Cumming)
Mosaic and United (Henry Cowell)
Program B
The Argument (Robert Schumann)
Northwest (John Luther Adams)
Ten Suggestions (Alexander Tcherepnin)
Going Away Party (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys)
For more information on programs and dates (which are subject to change), please visit: mmdg.org/joyce.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
