Dance in New York: Critics' picks

Jones and company present marathon performances comprising all three parts of the Analogy trilogy, which explores questions of memory and narrative: Dora: Tramontane, based on interviews with a French Jewish nurse who survived World War II; Lance: Pretty aka the Escape Artist, about Jones's nephew's struggles with addiction and excess; and the NYC premiere of the final segment, Ambros: The Emigrant, a fictionalized account of trauma, set to music by Nick Hallett.

In this Crossing the Line festival offering, performed by a cast of four, choreographer Rawls takes a look at surveillance, especially as it relates to the experience of being black in America. Originally commissioned by Live Arts Bard, the piece is a collaboration with poet Claudia Rankine and documentary filmmaker John Lucas.

The unconventional French choreographer explores the variety and ephemerality of dance in a piece set to Mozart's Requiem and performed by 20 dancers, each of whom executes hundreds of movements a single time each, without repeating any of them. This "choreographic storm" is presented under the umbrella of the French Institute Alliance Française's Crossing the Line festival.

Dance Now's 23rd season offers a massive festival of short works by 40 dance makers of every stripe, all challenged to mount five-minute pieces on the teeny stage at Joe's Pub. The best of the fest, as chosen by the producers, return for a special encore performance on Sept 27; they include festival winner Brendan Drake as well as Chelsea Ainsworth + Doron Perk, Tsiambwom M. Akuchu, binbinFactory /Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Loni Landon Dance Project, Claire Porter/PORTABLES, Subject: Matter, Kate Weare Company and Nicole Wolcott.

In this world premiere, Bessie Award winner Spradlin choreographs eight dancers in a piece that uses repetition to explore questions of what bodies can do and how we can express ourselves through them.

Having already offered opulently designed, adults-only burlesque takes on Snow White, Cinderella and The Nutcracker, director-choreographer Austin McCormick and his fancy-naughty troupe turn to Munro Leaf's 1936 children's book, The Story of Ferdinand, the tale of a strong young bovine who prefers fields of flowers to the matador's ring. An all-male ensemble performs what is sure to be a lavish cock-and-bull story.

The bulk of NYCB's fall season at Lincoln Center is devoted to programs of works by two of the great ballet choreographers of the 20th century: company cofounders George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Also on the lineup are Peter Martins's staging of August Bournonville's La Sylphide and the world premieres of pieces by Kyle Abraham, Matthew Neenan and Gianna Reisen.

Inspired by a rectangular form of 18th-century dance, conceiver-curator Lar Lubovitch invites five choreographers and/or companies—John Jasperse Projects (Sept 24–28), A.I.M (Sept 29–Oct 1), Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener (Oct 2–6), Beth Gill (Oct 4–7) and Donna Uchizono Company (Oct 10–13)–to create modern variations on the form, presented in rep over three weeks. A specially constructed stage at the Joyce allows the works to be viewed from all four sides.