Each year, Juilliard’s Dance Division presents some 30 public performances. Annual presentations in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater include a New Dances series in December, which features each class of students in a new work made especially for them by a prominent choreographer; and Spring Dances in March, which gives dancers the opportunity to perform in established works from repertory. The dance calendar also includes an annual Senior Production, a performance series featuring works by senior student choreographers; and the popular Choreographers and Composers (also known as ChoreoComp) concert, which presents the results of a collaboration between six Juilliard student choreographers and six Juilliard student composers. Dancers are also encouraged to present their own choreographed works in informal concert and workshop presentations throughout the year.
New Dances
A Juilliard tradition since 2002, New Dances features each class of students in a new work made especially for them by a prominent choreographer. Choreographers have included Sidra Bell, Andrea Miller, Justin Peck, Stephen Petronio, Bobbi Jene Smith, Sonya Tayeh, Jermaine Spivey and Spenser Theberge, and many others.
Spring Dances
The goal of Spring Dances is to challenge students to take on roles in established dance repertory. The experience of performing in time-tested roles is vastly different from that of being part of a dance during the choreographic process. The challenge is to serve the choreographer's original intent, designed in another time and place on another's body, while keeping the movement as alive as when it was first danced. Repertory performed in Spring Dances has included works by Aszure Barton, Camille A. Brown, Trisha Brown, Justin Peck, Hofesh Shechter, Medhi Walerski, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, among many others.
Student Choreography
Choreographers and Composers (ChoreoComp) is the culminating performance of a semester-long course. Six third-year dancers are paired with six music composition students to create short works for the second-year class of Juilliard Dance.
Choreographic Honors is held at the end of the spring semester. Works of student choreography, selected from the ongoing choreography workshops, are presented on the main stage as part of a concert that includes the first-year dancers performing existing repertory.
Fourth-Year Productions
Senior Production is one of the capstone events of Juilliard dance training. With faculty mentorship, fourth-year students produce, choreograph and perform the concert, while third-year dancers serve as stage managers, lighting designers, and dancers.
The Senior Graduation Concert serves as an opportunity for each graduating student to perform a solo or duet of their choosing as their final performance at Juilliard.
Additional Collaborations
Additional collaborations for on- and off-campus performing opportunities are common. Recent examples include Restart Stages at Lincoln Center, Merce Cunningham Trust Collaboration at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Martha Graham Dance Company’s University Partners Showcase at the Joyce Theater, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance series, and performances with the Juilliard Orchestra, Opera, and Historical Performance programs.
Juilliard Admissions Insider: Dance Performance Opportunities
Throughout each year, Juilliard dancers have many opportunities work with today's top dance innovators and to create works in collaboration with other dancers and Juilliard composition students.
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