Joyce SoHo announces its 2011 spring season featuring a line-up of 11 innovative and emerging companies from across the globe. Artists from Canada, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Australia and the United Kingdom will present compelling, multi-leveled works exploring subjects as varied as the economic terrain, history, femininity, and the relationship between power and freedom.   One of the season highlights will be a showcase of works by several of the winners and finalists from The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010-2011 events in Chicago, Seattle, and New York.

Most of these companies will be premiering new works and several of this season’s artists will host post-performance discussions in addition to the regularly scheduled performances. Below is a detailed roster of companies that will appear at Joyce SoHo from March 11 through June 19, 2011.

ONI DANCE

Mar 11—12

Fri-Sat at 8pm

$22; $18 students/seniors

Post-performance discussions: Mar 11 & 12

Los Angeles-based Oni Dance returns to Joyce SoHo with the world premiere of Vanished Earth, a work that revels in the moment of flight between two worlds.  The program also includes two NYC premieres: Exquisite.Corpse, an interrogation of intimacy, contamination, and mortality; and Wasteland(arrival, a piece inspired by Samuel Beckett’sWaiting for Godot that grapples with the past and the unknown future.  Led by Artistic Director Maria Gillespie, Oni Dance captures images and unfastens them to reveal kinetic underpinnings.  onidance.org

MOVE: THE COMPANY

Mar 17—20

Thu–Sat at 8pm; Sun at 3pm

$22; $15 students/seniors; $20 DancePass

Post-performance discussions:  Mar 17 & 18

Canada’s MOVE: the company presents the world premiere of Allemande, a new work by Artistic Director Josh Beamish, inspired by Bach’s various suites for solo cello.  This full evening of west coast contemporary dance will also include US premieres by Lara Barclay, National Ballet of Canada choreographer Matjash Mrozewski, and Simone Orlando’s tribute to the music of Johnny Cash. movethecompany.com

JAZZ AIN’T DEAD®

A YOUNG URBAN JAZZ MUSIC AND DANCE COLLECTIVE

Mar 24—27

Thu at 7:30pm;

Fri-Sat at 7:30 & 9:30pm; Sun at 6pm

$22; $15 students/seniors; $18 DancePass

Post-performance discussion:  Mar 27

Produced by Candice Michelle Franklin and Nyck Henry, NYC’s Jazz Ain’t Dead®, performs an exhilarating program of Nu-jazz and Jazz standards re-ignited with funk, house, acid jazz, and soul.  Featuring live music, the program includes the world premiere of Jazz Ain’t Dead Celebrates the Legacy of Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, with funky new music arrangements composed by Chris Rob.  jazzaintdead.com

CHUNKY MOVE

Apr 6—9

Wed-Fri at 8pm; Sat at 3 & 8pm

$18

After Hours@ Joyce SoHo: Apr 7

A post-performance Q&A.  Refreshments served.

Chunky Move dancers Byron Perry and Antony Hamilton’s I Like This depicts the journey of two men who embark on an unusual creative project:  to design an environment, attempt to make sense of it, and begin to control it.  The two Australia-based director/choreographers perform while simultaneously creating the work, offering the audience the unique opportunity to watch a performance as it is being made.  Intimately engaging, I Like This bridges detailed sophistication and delightful mischief.  Its often comic absurdity reveals our limited capacity to communicate and to control or even fully understand our surroundings.  chunkymove.com

LEDOH/SALT FARM

Apr 14—16

Thu-Sat at 8pm

$20; $15 students/seniors; $15 DancePass

San Francisco’s Ledoh/Salt Farm presents the New York premiere ofCOLORMEAMERICA, a Butoh-based multimedia performance that uses a triptych structure to explore the relationship between power and freedom.  While the work deals with weighty themes, Ledoh impishly regards COLORMEAMERICA as satire, a Spaghetti Western in which biting humor enlivens the piece while unmistakably conveying its political content.  ledoh.org

LUIS LARA MALAVACIAS/THIRD CLASS CITIZEN

Apr 28—30

Thu-Sat at 8pm

$18; $10 students/seniors; $10 DancePass

Third Class Citizen presents the New York premiere of Amanda & the Black Void of Space, an interdisciplinary project that examines history and looks for links between religion, gender, hatred, and madness.  Choreographer Luis Lara Malvacias collaborates with electro-acoustic Dutch composer Ivo Bol, and light and video designer David Tirosh.  Combining old ideas with new ones, Lara Malvacias performs his solo Red That Planet for the Saturday program.  laramalvacias.org

ALYCE FINWALL DANCE THEATER

May 5—7

Thu-Sat at 8pm

$18; $15 students/seniors; $12 DancePass

Post-performance discussion:  May 6

San Francisco-based Alyce Finwall Dance Theater collaborates with composer Carson Whitley on Evenfall, a piece for nine women.  In this New York premiere, femininity, identity, and nakedness are exposed through raw movement and theater.  Evenfall journeys through a dreamlike and ever-changing world of explosive movement, where intimate emotions and surreal landscapes come to life.   afdancetheater.org

CATHERINE CABEEN AND COMPANY

May 12—14

Thu-Sat at 8pm

$20; $10 students/seniors; $18 DancePass

Post-performance discussions:  May 12 & 13

Catherine Cabeen and Company, a contemporary ensemble dedicated to interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations based in Seattle brings Hyphen to the Joyce SoHo stage this season.  The program of six works including five New York City premieres features original live and recorded music by kora player Kane Mathis and dobro player Julian Martlew.  Other collaborators include fashion designer Michael Cepress, fiber artist Bo Choi, and writer Jay McAleer.  catherinecabeen.com

PAIR DANCE

May 19—21

Thu-Sat at 8pm

$22; $18 students/seniors; $18 DancePass

Post-performance discussion:  May 19

United Kingdom-based Pair Dance presents the US premiere of RUSH, developed with the inspiration of Dutch photographer Reiner Gerritsen’s The Europeans. This work reflects the spirit of our time and how we interact with ourselves and others.  Caught in a personal regime of commuter chaos, individuals convey hidden traits, influenced through issues of time, environment, spiritual apathy, and frustration. Pair Dance is led by award-winning choreographer Harriet Macauley with original sound score created and produced by composer Richard Leonard.  pairdance.org

THE A.W.A.R.D. SHOW! ALL-STARS

May 31—Jun 5

Tue-Sat at 8pm; Sun at 3pm

$15

Post-performance discussions:  May 31, Jun 2 & Jun 4

Select winners and finalists from The A.W.A.R.D. Show! events in Chicago, Seattle, and New York City perform the works they showed in competition in their respective cities. joyce.org

THE SELDOMS

Jun 10—11

Fri-Sat at 8pm

$18; $10 students/seniors

Stupormarket is The Seldoms’ new dance theater work about the economic blowout and the ongoing wobbly recovery.  From the luxury market to the unemployment line, and the trading floor to the housing market, Stupormarket ranges broadly across the economic terrain and two different camps of economic thought, neither of which warned loudly enough of the impending crisis.   Directed and choreographed by Chicago-based Artistic Director Carrie Hanson in collaboration with the company, Stupormarket is the culmination of a three-year long project, expanding upon two previous short works – Thrift (2009) andDeath of a (Prada) Salesman (2009).  Sound design by Richard Woodbury.  Lighting design by Julie Ballard.  theseldoms.org

SALLY GROSS AND COMPANY

Jun 16—19

Thu-Sun 8pm

$18; $15 students/seniors

New York-based Sally Gross and Company presents Dancescapes, an evening of three world premieres constructed by Ms. Gross and the dancers.  THREEFOLD, a mysterious work, is sculptural and as intimate as family.  THREE represents space crossed, full of recurrence and transformation.  And Ms. Gross’ solo ONE elicits something given and, ultimately, something taken away.  Lighting design by Blu.