Five duos will perform at Japan Society’s seventeenth Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + Asia (photo © Naoshi Hattori.; courtesy of Aichi Arts Center)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Friday, January 6, and Saturday, January 7, $30, 7:30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
Traditionally, we like to end our year by seeing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in its December season at City Center, then start every other year off right with the Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia every January at Japan Society. The seventeenth edition of the biennial event takes place January 6 and 7, as five acts will perform special duets. The 2017 lineup features the North American premiere of Korean company JJbro’s playful and energetic Jimmy & Jack; the North American premiere of Japanese troupe Co. Un Yamada’s unique interpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s 1923 Les Noces (The Wedding), which the maestro called “Choreographed Scenes with Music and Voices”; the North American premiere of Taiwan company B DANCE’s Hugin/Munin, involving the title characters, ravens whose names mean “thought” and “memory,” respectively, sitting on Norse god Odin’s shoulders (choreographed by Po-Cheng Tsai); the North American premiere of Taiwain troupe In Theatre’s Tschüss!! Bunny, choreographed by Yen-Cheng Liu, examining life and death and rebirth, inspired by the concept “Now is the moment, and creation is the assembling of the fragments of lives”; and the world premiere of TranSenses, a collaboration between Japanese dancer and choreographer Akiko Kitamura and Canadian media alchemist and audiovisual sculptor Navid Navab. There are still tickets left to catch this biennial treat; the January 6 performance will be followed by a Meet-the-Artists Reception.