The best dance shows in NYC this month

[Note: Queen of Hearts returns in February for an encore run, with Lindsay Rose in the title role.] Lewis Carroll's trippy Alice in Wonderland books have inspired many theatrical spectacles, but Company XIV's seductive Queen of Hearts is a singular sexcess: a transporting fusion of haute burlesque, circus, dance and song. Your fall down the glamorous rabbit hole begins upon entering the troupe's louche Bushwick lair, where scantily clad server-performers slink about in flattering red lighting. A cursory knowledge of the source material will help you make sense of the show’s three-act cavalcade of Alice-inspired routines, as our blue-haired heroine embarks on an NC-17 coming-of-age journey under the guidance of the White Rabbit. As usual, Company XIV impresario Austin McCormick has assembled an array of alluring and highly skilled artists, who look smashing in Zane Pihlstrom's lace-and-crystal-encrusted costumes. A contortionist emerges in an S/M-vinyl cocoon and transforms into a beauteous butterfly; mustachioed twins, as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, perform a cheeky spin on the Marx Brothers' mirror trick. As the title royal, voluptuous vocalist Storm Marrero rules over all in her stunning 11-o'clock number. With its soundtrack of pop songs, attractive ensemble cast and immersive aesthetics—plus chocolate and specialty cocktails—Queen of Hearts feels like Moulin Rouge! for actual bohemians. Hell, it even has a cancan. Like Alice, you may resist returning to reality when...

After a special program to celebrate the reopening of Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, the free annual Battery Dance Festival moves to the North Esplanade of Rockefeller Park for a week of performances by a mix of local and international companies, performing outdoors near the sparkling water at sunset. The lineup for the 44th edition features multiple U.S. or world premieres, and the participating artists include visitors from the Netherlands, India, Bangladesh, Spain, South Korea and Germany, Taiwan, Romania and Indonesia. The slate includes an August 15 program devoted to Indian dance. All six shows are general admission, and there's a rain date on Sunday, August 17. Below is a full schedule of the artists and companies that will be performing. Visit the festival's website for additional details.  Pallavi Krishnan | Photograph: Courtesy of the artist Tuesday, August 12:John Manzari & Band, excerpts from RecenterPace University Dancing to Connect Battery Dance, Sense of BelongingFaizah Grootens, While You’re HereBulareyaung Dance Company, Colors  Wednesday, August 13:UNARTE, Verso Roto Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, EdenBulareyaung Dance Company, Colors Faizah Grootens, While You’re Here Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas   Platforma 13: Balkan Ballerinas | Photograph: Courtesy Marko Pejovic Thursday, August 14:Kar' mel Small, La Manta de Reina Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, Eden Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas UNARTE, Verso Roto Buglisi Dance...

New York City Ballet standout Tiler Peck curates and stars in this year's edition of the Joyce's Ballet Festival, which is devoted to works by Jerome Robbins, the longtime NYCB Ballet Master in Chief and legendary Broadway director-choreographer. The run is divided into two main programs and performed to music by Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky. Program A (Aug 12, 14 and 16 at 7:30pm) features Four Bagatelles, A Suite of Dances and excerpts from Dance at a Gathering; Roman Mejia performs A Suite of Dances—which was created for Mikhail Baryshnikov—on August 12 and 14, and Peck herself dances it on August 16, becoming the first woman ever to do so. Program B (Aug 13 and 15 at 7:30pm and Aug 16 at 2pm) comprises Rondo, Other Dances, Concertino and In the Night. The run concludes on August 17 with a hybrid program: Four Bagatelles, In the Night and Peck in A Suite of Dances. In addition to Peck and Mejia, the cast includes NYCB's Taylor Stanley, and Indiana Woodward, American Ballet Theatre’s Brooks Landegger, Cassandra Trenary and Devon Teuscher, Paris Opera Ballet's Paul Marque and Sae Eun Park of Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet’s William Bracewell and Marcelino Sambé.

The forbidden love between a poor scholar and an aristocratic girl—who dresses up as a boy, Yentl–style, to study at an all-male academy—is the subject of this original full-length work, inspired by Chinese folklore and choreographed by Hong Kong Ballet choreographer-in-residence Hu Song Wei Ricky. The music is by Tian Mi, and the libretto is by associate choreographer Mai Jingwen. Audiences can expect a physically impressive staging along with beautiful dancing: The sets and costumes are by Tim Yip, who won an Oscar for designing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Rockaway Beach's annual outdoor dance festival returns for its 11th year with another free outdoor offering. In this year's edition, mounted at Beach 112 Street, choreographer Kim Brandt takes cues from the coastline and the horizon line to explore the ways in which our notions of boundaries are built on sand.