The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University presents the 2024 Princeton Dance Festival. Princeton students in the program will perform new and repertory works by nationally and internationally recognized choreographers including a new hip-hop work by Rennie Harris, a new contemporary dance-theater work by Raja Feather Kelly, a new contemporary work by Rebecca Lazier, a new ballet work by Matthew Neenan, an excerpt from Stephen Petronio’s Lareigne (1995) staged by Davalois Fearon, and a restaged excerpt of Ripple, a 2021 contemporary work rooted in Chinese classical and folk dance by Yue Yin. Performances are November 22 at 8:00 p.m., November 23 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and November 24 at 2:00 p.m. All performances will be at the Berlind Theatre in the McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place.

The Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating. An assistive listening system is available, and headphones can be requested from ushers. The November 22 performance will be open-captioned. The November 24 show will be a relaxed performance. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu.

Three works in the festival were staged or created during fall semester courses in the Program in Dance.

The cast of Rebecca Lazier’s new work, Blink, in rehearsal for the work’s premiere at the 2024 Princeton Dance Festival. Photo credit: Jon Sweeney

Raja Feather Kelly, a 2023-25 Princeton Arts Fellow, has created a new contemporary dance-theater work in collaboration with assistant choreographer Alexandria Giroux and members of his cast. The piece, The Absolute Future, is based on Kelly’s work of the same name performed by his company, the feath3r theory. He describes the new work as “a black comedy style, energetic, and surreal exhibition of people being people, dealing with the things we fear most: death and loneliness.” The piece uses text and movement in a humorous, vibrant, and melodramatic way that he says “resembles the comedy and absurdity of social media but ultimately fades away the facade of our candy-coated society revealing a story about our inability to connect.”

Kelly is a choreographer, director, and the artistic director of the feath3r theory, a Brooklyn-based dance-theater-media company that he founded in 2009. Over the past decade he has created 16 evening-length works with the feath3r theory to critical acclaim. He choreographed the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop, as well as works for productions off-Broadway and at regional theaters.

Rebecca Lazier choreographed Blink in collaboration with the performers to delve into the transformative power of fleeting, pivotal moments— “blinks”—where life shifts and new perspectives emerge. Set to evocative music of Princeton faculty member Tyondai Braxton, Blink showcases sudden changes in direction, moments of stillness, and playful movements, illuminating the unpredictability that shapes the group’s journey. The piece celebrates the dynamic interplay of individual and collective decision-making that continually redefines the whole.

Lazier is a professor of the practice and associate director of the Program in Dance. She has choreographed more than 80 works presented in six countries. She creates dances of explosive physical vitality inspired by the thinking and problem-solving that is possible through collaboration, reaching outside of dance to experimental music, engineering, architecture, visual art, and anatomy to ask how the questions and methodologies that drive invention in other fields can open up new frontiers of choreographic knowledge.

Davalois Fearon shared that staging Stephen Petronio’s Lareigne is “like slipping on an old shoe that fits just right.” It was the first complete work she performed with the Stephen Petronio Company in 2004. She notes that stepping back into Petronio’s hyper-physical, as well as extremely cerebral, work 20 years later has been a stimulating and inspirational challenge for her and the cast of Princeton students. Sustained, graceful movements juxtaposed with whipping, slashing, fast-paced movements create architectural structures that appear and disappear and speak to Petronio’s unmistakable signature aesthetic.

Founder of his namesake company in 1984, Petronio has created over 35 works for his company and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies. The Stephen Petronio Company has performed in 26 countries throughout the world, including over 35 New York City engagements with 18 seasons at The Joyce Theater. His repertory works have been set on other companies around the world, as well as universities and colleges throughout the U.S.

Fearon is a member of the Dance Program faculty and a critically acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and educator with her own company. Her work is driven by an aim to confront complex social problems and compel a profound contemplation of these issues by audiences. She was a member of the Stephen Petronio Company from 2005 to 2017.

Princeton students perform Run to the Edge choreographed by Amy Hall Garner during the 2023 Princeton Dance Festival. Photo credit: Larry Levanti

The other three works on the program were created or staged outside of a course by guest choreographers who are 2024-25 Hearst Choreographers-in-Residence at Princeton.

Rennie Harris’s new Give Us Free, a work for eleven dancers, challenges a widespread misunderstanding of hip-hop dance culture as only entertaining and fun. The heart of this work lies in exposing the illusion of freedom by demonstrating how societal norms and structures subtly influence our choices, even when we believe we are making decisions independently.

Harris is a pioneer in bringing hip-hop to wider audiences and an award-winning choreographer. He has worked with artists such as Run DMC, LL Cool J, Madonna, Boyz II Men, and Will Smith. He is one of the first hip-hop choreographers to set works on ballet-based companies and the first street dancer to be commissioned to create an evening-length work on Alvin Ailey American Theater.

Remember 24 by Matthew Neenan is a nostalgic work inspired by the music of contemporary pop group, Djo. Djo’s music resembles a classic 80’s sound with a fresh twist, reminding us of where we came from and that our new generation is going to lead us forward.

Neenan was a principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet (now Philadelphia Ballet) from 1994 to 2007 where he also served as resident choreographer from 2007-2020, creating 20 ballets. In 2006, he co-founded BalletX with Christine Cox, which has toured nationally and internationally. Neenan has created works for the New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and The Juilliard School, among others.

Yue Yin created Ripple during the pandemic. An intimate and intricate group work consisting of several duets, the movement represents the spectrum between order and chaos. She notes that, while our lives may seem caught up in the conflict between calmness and turbulence, there are moments of harmony when the balance is found. Reimagined for the Princeton student cast, this excerpt of Ripple features the work’s ensemble connection and interaction.

Yue is a choreographer, founder and artistic director of YY Dance Company and the creator of FoCo Technique, which fuses elements of Chinese classical dance, folk forms, ballet, and contemporary vocabulary. She has been commissioned by dance companies such as Gibney Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theater, BalletMet, Boston Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, and Limón Dance Company.

Professional designers for the Princeton Dance Festival are Aaron Copp for lighting design, costume design by Mary Jo Mecca, and music direction by Vince di Mura, with stage management by Mary-Susan Gregson.

Relaxed performances ease typical theater requirements and welcome audience members to be comfortable and to move or vocalize freely, without judgment or inhibition. Audiences seeking to experience the Dance Festival in this environment are invited to attend the November 24 relaxed performance at 2 p.m.

Currently under the direction of Susan Marshall, Princeton’s Program in Dance is now in its 54th year and has grown to include five full-time and nine adjunct faculty and offers 23 different courses and a curriculum that includes introductory courses, courses suited for dancers at the pre-professional level, as well as courses in dance studies and interdisciplinary contemporary practices. Marshall is directing this year’s festival.

Tickets for Princeton Dance Festival are $20 and $10 for students and are available online at the McCarter Box Office.

Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Princeton Dance Festival, the Program in Dance, and the more than 100 performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts, most of them free.