In NYC in January 2026? Check Out These NPN-Supported Artists!
December 14, 2025 • 15 minute read
#NPNArtistsNYC2026
We’ve compiled a few of the many ways to see NPN-supported artists, and run into NPN friends. The schedule-at-a-glance is followed by more information about all projects.
*Please note that events may require registration, follow links for further instructions
Schedule-at-a-glance
All times are Eastern.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026
- 7:00pm: sugar vendil/isogram, Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia @ Out-FRONT! Fest: Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
Wednesday, January 7th, 2026
- 7:00pm: sugar vendil/isogram, Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia @ Out-FRONT! Fest: Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
- 7:30pm: Ogemdi Ude, MAJOR @ New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
Thursday, January 8th, 2026
- 12:00pm-2:00pm: Kyle Marshall Choreography, Bound, @ CUNY Hunter College Dance Studio, Thomas Hunter Hall 6th Floor, 932 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10065
- 7:30pm: Ogemdi Ude, MAJOR @ New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
- 8:30pm: Dahlak Brathwaite, Roberta Uno, Toran X. Moore, Try/Step/Trip @ The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre, A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 W. 53rd St., New York, NY 10019
Friday, January 9th, 2026
- 3:00pm-3:30pm: Raphael Xavier, One @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- 3:00pm-4:30pm: Ragamala Dance Company, Children of Dharma @ New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 6th Ave., New York, NY 10019
- 7:00pm-7:30pm: SOLE Defined, ZAZ @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- 7:30pm: Ogemdi Ude, MAJOR @ New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
Saturday, January 10th, 2026
- 11:15am-11:45am: Ananya Dance Theatre, Swapnō Jhnāp: Dream Jumping @ Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York NY 10019
- 12:00pm: Ogemdi Ude, MAJOR @ New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
- 1:00pm-1:40pm: Maree ReMalia, WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER @ New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
- 1:45pm-3:45pm: sugar vendil/isogram, Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia @ AAPI Dance Festival: Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- 4:00pm-5:00pm: Kyle Marshall Choreography, Gay and Bound, @ CUNY Hunter College Dance Studio, Thomas Hunter Hall 6th Floor, 932 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10065
- 8:00pm: Jesse Factor, The MetaMarthasis @ Red Eye NY, 355 W 41st St., New York, NY 10036
- 8:30pm: Dahlak Brathwaite, Roberta Uno, Toran X. Moore, Try/Step/Trip @ Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York NY 10019
- 10:00pm-10:30pm: Ananya Dance Theatre, Swapnō Jhnāp: Dream Jumping @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
Sunday, January 11th, 2026
- 10:45am-11:15am: Ananya Dance Theatre, Swapnō Jhnāp: Dream Jumping @ Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York NY 10019
- 2:00pm-2:30pm: Timur, PROTOTYPE Festival @ Duffy Square, Times Square, New York, NY
- 2:45pm-2:55pm: SOLE Defined, The Pulse @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- 3:00pm-3:40pm: Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory, A Body of Dangerous Ideas: Part 3: Doomscrollers @ New York Live Artery, 219 West 19th St., New York, NY 10011
- 3:20pm-3:35pm: slowdanger, STORY BALLET @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- 7:00pm: Jesse Factor, The MetaMarthasis @ Red Eye NY, 355 W 41st St., New York, NY 10036
- 7:00pm-7:40pm: Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, Marks of RED @ NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
Monday, January 12th, 2026
- 12:30pm-1:15pm: BRKFST Dance Company, Meet the McKnight Fellows @ Gibney Dance, 280 Broadway, Studio H, New York, NY 10007
- 5:00pm-6:00pm: Sweat Variant – Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, seeds in progress: adaku, part 2 @ 170 53rd St, Suite 234, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday, January 14th, 2026
- 8:30pm: Dahlak Brathwaite, Roberta Uno, Toran X. Moore, Try/Step/Trip @ The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre, A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 W. 53rd St., New York, NY 10019
Note: We tried to include as many NPN friends as possible, but this list is not exhaustive!
Detailed Information for All Performances
Ananya Dance Theatre
Swapnō Jhnāp: Dream Jumping
Date & Time & Location
(More info on each event linked below)
- Saturday, January 10th, 11:15am-11:45am at Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York NY 10019
- Saturday, January 10th, 10:00pm-10:30pm at NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
- Sunday, January 11th, 10:45am-11:15 at Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
SWAPNŌ JHNĀP: Dream Jumping marks the climax of Ananya Dance Theatre’s 20th season of disruptive, powerful, and urgent contemporary dance theatre. This work, which premiered at the O’Shaughnessy on Sept 19, 2025, faces the ongoing chaos and escalating destruction in our common life by bringing connectivity and liberation out of the dream world and into reality.
5 journeys, 5 portals, 5 medicines: /
Moving through horror towards dreams that connect us with ourselves /
we travel through portals /
navigating oceans of grief /
shared rhythms of the dance club /
the hatching of mythical creatures /
war-torn landscapes. /
Emboldened by the feminist spiritual practice of quantum jumping /
we birth the miracle of a deeply connected universe.
BRKFST Dance Company
Meet the McKnight Fellows
Date & Time
- Monday, January 12th, 12:30pm-1:15pm
Location
- Gibney Dance, 280 Broadway, Studio H, New York, NY 10007
This is an information session to meet four recent McKnight Choreography and Dancer Fellows. Each year the McKnight Fellowship program awards fellowship to choreographers and dancers of exceptional artistic merit, who reside in Minnesota. The McKnight Fellows will offer insights into their creative practices and information about projects available for development and touring. We hope you will join us!
The McKnight Fellows include:
- Vie Boheme
- Emily Michaels King
- Kayla Schiltgen
- Joe Tran/ BRKFST Dance Company
Dahlak Brathwaite, Roberta Uno, Toran X. Moore
Try/Step/Trip (part of the Under the Radar Festival)
Date & Time
- Thursday, January 8th, 8:30pm
- Saturday, January 10th, 8:30pm
- Wednesday, January 14th, 5:30pm
Location
- The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre, A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 W. 53rd St., New York, NY 10019
Directed by Roberta Uno and choreographed by Toran Moore, Dahlak Brahwaite’s Try/Step/Trip is a concept musical rooted in hip-hop and embodied through the choreographic language of step. The story follows the journey of a music man as he re-imagines his experience in a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program. Inspired by Brathwaite’s own history, Try/Step/Trip is a rite of passage orchestrated to save one of the justice system’s newest inductees from the ultimate plight of criminalization: to be remade in the image of its judgment. World views are delivered within musical numbers, ancestors are conjured through step, and archetypes are sampled from pop culture and folklore, all to guide a familiar young Black man in his unique search for redemption and self-definition.
Note: This show uses strong language and references struggles with addiction.
Jesse Factor
The MetaMarthasis
Date & Time
- Saturday, January 10th, 8:00pm
- Sunday, January 11th, 7:00pm
Location
- Red Eye NY, 355 W 41st St., New York, NY 10036
Suspended between stark minimalism and pop-infused spectacle, Jesse Factor invites you into a world of transformation, speculation, and adoration where the “High Priestess of Modern Dance” – Martha and Graham and the “Queen of Pop,” Madonna combine. Part dance concert, part pop show, part drag performance – completely fabulous.
Kyle Marshall Choreography
Gay, Julius Eastman Trilogy and Bound (open rehearsal)
Date & Time
- Bound (open rehearsal): Thursday, January 8th, 12:00pm-2:00pm
- Gay and Bound (sound excerpts): Saturday, January 10th, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Location
- CUNY Hunter College Dance Studio, Thomas Hunter Hall 6th Floor, 932 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10065
Bound (open rehearsal)
Marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, Bound is a dance of words, song, and technology to manifest a new destiny. Viewed on two sides, the witness is encouraged to notice their unique perspective as individuals and their shared responsibility as citizens. Encompassing an experimental sonic, visual, and physical landscape, the work will explore sub(text) and subversive action through embodied text, gesture, and rhythm that examine American values, ideals, and realities. Text grounding the work includes The Declaration of Independence, Fredrick Douglass “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?,” and material generated by the performers reflecting on the times we must move through. With the sound technology and calls to actions, the audience will have opportunities to participate vocally and physically with the dance, providing space for shared reflection and dialogue. With echoes of revolution resonating through this juncture in American history, Bound considers the state of our nation and its future yet unwritten.
We are eagerly seeking presenters to support the development and premiere of this project. Its unique configuration and content welcomes non-traditional approaches to presentation. This includes but is not limited to; flexible black box theaters and studios, onstage seating, galleries, museums or great halls.
This open rehearsal will include an “inventory” run of material starting approximately at 1:00pm.
Saturday, January 10th 3:50pm-4:05pm – Bound Live Music Pre-Show Set with sound designers Cal Fish and Kwami Winfield.
Gay
Coming off KMC’s international debut, Gay is a duet on eternal love set to Julius Eastman’s 1979 composition “Gay Guerrilla.” A brooding journey of undulating pulses, this clever work of open instrumentation is timed against a stopwatch. The dance begins in darkness as two performers emerge, isolated in their internal struggle. We witness them meet for the first time, fall into each other, and build a world of vulnerability, support, and pride. This work is a part of KMC’s Julius Eastman Trilogy.
KMC’s current Julius Eastman Trilogy, a series of works celebrating the life and legacy of Black, gay minimalist composer and musician Julius Eastman. Along with Gay, the trilogy includes Joan, a quartet celebrating victory over tyranny to Eastman’s “In the Holy Presence of Joan D’Arc” and our full evening cornerstone production, Femenine (NDP + NPN grantee), celebrating queer community and joy to Eastman’s joyful composition of the same name. Each of these dances is available for touring individually or paired for full evening programs. All of these pieces can be performed with pre-recorded music or live collaborations with local ensembles.
Prior to this showing on Saturday, January 10th at 3:50pm will be a Live Music Pre-Show Set with sound designers Cal Fish and Kwami Winfield for KMC’s new work in development, Bound.
Maree ReMalia
produced by Hatch Arts Collective | KSTXNYC
WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER
Date & Time
- Saturday, January 10th, 1:00pm-1:40pm
Location
- New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
Live Artery provides a platform for artists to share their work with the general public and presenters from around the world, fostering new commissions, touring opportunities, and lasting professional relationships. Artists showing works-in-progress or excerpts of completed works on January 10 include Maree ReMalia, Abby Z and the New Utility, and Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre.
Set in a karaoke-funeral-lounge, Maree ReMalia’s WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER (WOWEO) welcomes audiences into an evening-length solo blending dance, text, and pop music as a way to grieve a parent who raised her and a parent she never met. The performance explores how a solo body can become a meeting place for others and how a mic becomes a lifeline. Co-directed by theater artist Adil Mansoor, this new performance commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Bates Dance Festival, Hatch Arts Collective, and National Performance Network, premieres in Fall 2026 at Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
Ogemdi Ude
MAJOR (part of Live Artery at New York Live Arts)
Date & Time
- Wednesday, January 7th, 7:30pm
- Thursday, January 8th, 7:30pm
- Friday, January 9th, 7:30pm
- Saturday, January 10th, 12:00pm
Location
- New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011
MAJOR is a dance theater project exploring the physicality, history, sociopolitics, and interiority of majorette dance, a form that originated in the American South within Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the 1960s. These Black femme teams accompanied by marching bands created a movement style that requires master showmanship with allegiance to count, undulation, groove, and sensual yet strong performativity. In MAJOR, six Black femmes embrace majorette form – a fundamental relic of Black girlhood – to pursue the intimate journey of returning to bodies they thought lost. Experiments in improvised and verbatim language intertwine with a music score that integrates Southern rap, horns, drumlines, and melodic R&B and soul by Lambkin. A fierce investigation of physical memory, sexuality, sensuality, and community, MAJOR is a nuanced love letter to the folks who taught the team how to be proudly Black and proudly femme.
Ragamala Dance Company
Children of Dharma (pitch session)
Date & Time
- Friday, January 9th, 3:00pm-4:30pm
Location
- New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 6th Ave., New York, NY 10019
The UP NEXT! Artist Pitch Session is an annual event at the APAP|NYC conference. Artists, agents, producers, and managers pitch new, tour-ready projects to presenters and producers to showcase a range of new works to help inform the performing arts industry about what’s next. Ragamala Dance Company will present information about its most recent work, Children of Dharma.
Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory
A Body of Dangerous Ideas: Part 3: Doomscrollers (excerpt)
Date & Time
- Sunday, January 11th, 3:00pm-3:40pm
Location
- New York Live Artery, 219 West 19th St., New York, NY 10011
The New York Live Artery Artist Salon provides a platform for artists to share their work with local communities and presenters from around the world, fostering new commissions, touring opportunities, and lasting partnerships.
This year, Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory will be participating in the Live Artery Artist Salon, previewing an excerpt of the Company’s newest work, A Body of Dangerous Ideas:Part 3: Doomscrollers on January 11th @3pm.
A Body of Dangerous Ideas is a danced-theatre investigation of danger as both threat and threshold: how it lives in the body, how, in search for connection, intimacy itself can be perilous, and how media shapes our sympathies for violence and collapse. Inspired by Claire Bishop’s Disordered Attention and Daniel Sherrell’s Warmth, the work asks what it means to live at the hinge between digital saturation and planetary crisis.
Raphael Xavier
One (excerpt)
Date & Time
- Friday, January 9th, 3:00pm-3:30pm
Location
- NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
APAP Showcase of new work excerpt. One, a continuum of Xavier’s embodied storytelling through a mix of various hip hop dance styles and spoken word.
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE
Marks of RED (Lotus Arts Management Showcase)
Date & Time
- Sunday, January 11th, 7:00pm-7:40pm
Location
- NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
A work of magical realism narrated by and featuring the viewpoints of six women, Marks of RED continues award-winning choreographer Shamel Pitts’ research exploring Black embodiment, aliveness, and human connection.
slowdanger
STORY BALLET (excerpts)
Date & Time
- Sunday, January 11th, 3:20pm-3:35pm
Location
- NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
slowdanger presents excerpts of STORY BALLET, a new work in development. A contemporary reimagining of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, this multidisciplinary quintet examines the intersections of mental health, escapism, and societal stereotypes. Instead of depicting the relationship obsession with a woman, STORY BALLET subverts Berlioz’s concept, redefining the symphony’s story as “dancing with the ghost of one’s self.” Performers embody different facets of a central character, each grappling with their own obsessions and past selves. Noir lighting, holographic projections, motion capture, and live sound sampling bring this journey to life.
SOLE Defined
ZAZ and The Pulse
Date & Time
- ZAZ: Friday, January 9th, 7:00pm-7:30pm
- The Pulse: Sunday, January 11th, 2:45pm-2:55pm
Location
- NY City Center, Studio 5, 131 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
ZAZ
A powerful performative archive of stories honoring the resilience of Hurricane Katrina survivors, embodying their experiences through dance, music, and technology.
ZAZ is an immersive sensory performance that shifts traditional viewing practices beyond just sight and sound. The performers embody the oral histories and recorded experiences of survivors of Hurricane Katrina. They perform in tap shoes, hard-soled shoes, gumboots, and barefoot, creating a rhythmic score that supports the narration woven into the performance. These stories are conveyed through speaking, singing, rapping, and projections, creating a unique experience that transports the audience to New Orleans and breaks down the boundaries of the fourth wall.
Conceived by Ryan K. Johnson, an acclaimed 2024 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow and recipient of the prestigious 2024 New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project production grant, this choreography-led performance intricately weaves soundscapes and cutting-edge media technology with vibrant percussive dance. ZAZ includes Associate Director Jodeci Milhouse with choreographic contributions from all performers, guest choreography by Quynn Johnson and Michelle Gibson, and musical arrangements by Tamar Greene of Hamilton, Broadway company, and Henley Connor III. (75 mins. no intermission).
The Pulse
The Pulse is a 70-minute immersive performance experience that transforms audiences from passive spectators into active participants. Rooted in the rich traditions of African Diasporic dance forms, the performance takes viewers on a dynamic, polyrhythmic journey, blending tap dance, body percussion, sand dance, and audience engagement into a powerful, multilayered expression of rhythm and movement.
By translating global rhythmic patterns through the human body, The Pulse creates a living, breathing score where music and dance are inseparable, igniting the senses and inviting deep connection. The audience becomes part of this rhythmic dialogue, blurring the lines between performer and observer, and fostering a shared energetic experience.
At the heart of the program is the company’s latest work, Body Language, which pushes this exploration further. This piece is a sonic and kinetic investigation into African Diasporic Percussive Dance through the innovative use of loop machine technology. The artist builds an original soundscape in real time, layering body percussion and movement that create complex rhythms and textures. The live looping technology allows for an evolving musical environment that the performer simultaneously inhabits and responds to, resulting in an electrifying conversation between body, sound, and technology.
Together, these elements combine to make The Pulse a groundbreaking performance that celebrates the heritage, innovation, and transformative power of percussive dance traditions.
sugar vendil/isogram
Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia
Date & Time
- Out-FRONT! Fest: Tuesday, January 6th, 7:00pm
- Out-FRONT! Fest: Wednesday, January 7th, 7:00pm
- AAPI Dance Festival: Saturday, January 10th, 1:45pm-3:45pm
Location
- Out-FRONT! Fest: Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
- AAPI Dance Festival: Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W 55th St., New York, NY 10019
Out-FRONT! Fest
A Festival curated by Pioneers Go East Collective and presented in partnership with Judson Memorial Church.
The Out-FRONT! Festival is curated by Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Remi Harris Philip Treviño, and Joyce Isabelle. The Festival features award-winning artists who enlighten, entertain and promote conversations around aesthetic diversity and personal journeys on the intersection of mutual ideas, cultures, and meanings.
This performance will take place at Judson Memorial Church. General Admission and Free tickets available. All are welcome!
Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia is a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood that interweaves chamber music, dance, and nonlinear theater in an interdisciplinary performance. Excavating seemingly insignificant but deeply ingrained memories, Antonym envisions the future as an escape from pain and ponders how we can possess painful memories without being beholden to them. Using field recordings of New York City to create a rich sonic landscape, the four seasons serve as a cyclical frame and context for memory. Antonym invites audiences to reflect on their own relationships with memory, identity, and imagining their own futures.
More info on this Out-FRONT! Fest event
AAPI Dance Festival
Please join Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for the AAPI Dance Festival, an annual celebration of dance and choreography that highlights the artistry and innovation of choreographers of Asian descent, presented as part of the Dance Managers Collective’s APAP showcase at City Center and the Ailey Citigroup Theatre.
sugar vendil/isogram will share Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia, a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood that interweaves chamber music, dance, and nonlinear theater in an interdisciplinary performance. Excavating seemingly insignificant but deeply ingrained memories, Antonym envisions the future as an escape from pain and ponders how we can possess painful memories without being beholden to them. Using field recordings of New York City to create a rich sonic landscape, the four seasons serve as a cyclical frame and context for memory. Antonym invites audiences to reflect on their own relationships with memory, identity, and imagining their own futures.
APAP Presenters: use code “APAPPresenter” for comp tickets.
Sweat Variant – Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born
seeds in progress: adaku, part 2 (a studio showing at New York Live Arts Live Artery)
Date & Time
- Monday, January 12th, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Location
- 170 53rd St, Suite 234, Brooklyn, NY
seeds in progress: adaku, part 2 shows Sweat Variant’s ongoing physical research for the adaku trilogy, a speculative mythology about how one family in precolonial West Africa becomes entangled in the transatlantic slave trade. Sweat Variant is developing part two in this mythology, investigating the embodied impact of this rupture. adaku, part 2 will premiere in fall 2026 and tour through 2027-28.
Timur
PROTOTYPE Festival
Date & Time
- Sunday, January 11th, 2:00pm-2:30pm
Location
- Duffy Square, Times Square, New York, NY
The All Sing: Hwael-Rād (Whale-Road) by Jens Ibsen is an ode to song and human-animal connection, uniting hundreds of voices in a vibrant tapestry of black metal blast beats and tender choral whalesong. Timur is a featured soloist.
