Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival Kicks Off in New York City
From February 19 through March 21, over 20 invigorating performances and workshops will take place across the Big Apple
This week, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels will kick off its seventh edition, the second to take place in New York City. From February 19 through March 21, over 20 invigorating performances will light up the stages at New York City Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Perelman Performing Arts Center, Guggenheim New York, New York Live Arts, and more.
“Dance brings all the artistic disciplines together: it can incorporate music, the plastic arts, costuming, lighting, set design, graphic design, and even jewelry,” says Serge Laurent, Van Cleef & Arpels’s Director of Dance and Culture Programs. “It is a fascinating art form and an incredible field of expression. That is why it can appeal to such a wide audience. I’d like to encourage spectators to admire the works freely, with no preconceptions.”
Highlights of the multi-week program, which also includes workshops hosted at the New York Center for Creativity & Dance, are a performance of Merce Cunningham’s Biped (1999) by The Lyon Opera Ballet, Mycelium (2023) from choreographer Christos Papadopoulos, Age of Content (2023) by (LA)HORDE—Ballet national de Marseille, an L.A. Dance Project performance of Reflections: a triptych, which stems from a 2012 dialogue between Van Cleef & Arpels and Benjamin Millepied, and Lucinda Childs’s Early Works series, which will be staged in the rotunda of the Guggenheim New York.
Dance Reflections, which launched in 2020, aims to support artists and institutions in preserving choreographic heritage, promoting dance education and transmission, and nurturing contemporary creation. Van Cleef & Arpels’s dedication to dance dates back to the 1920s, and notably was solidified in the 1950s when Claude Arpels met choreographer George Balanchine, co-founder of the New York City Ballet. In 1967, Balanchine produced Jewels, a three-part program born out of the duo’s shared passion for precious stones. Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, and Japan have also in the past hosted the annual festival, with performances taking place in traditional settings and more public venues for maximum accessibility.
“Beyond the joy of unveiling this program to the people of New York—whom we are especially delighted to see again—this event offers a new opportunity to celebrate the richness and diversity of contemporary dance,” says Laurent. “We hope that this second Dance Reflections Festival fosters dialogue between these diverse influences and will inspire the articulation of new choreographic languages in the days to come.”