The best dance shows in NYC this month

French-Algerian choreographer Koubi and his troupe of North African street dancers return to the Joyce with a piece that looks at the history of cultures around the Mediterranean and the richness of traditions once dismissed as barbarian. Expect an eclectic mix of martial arts, hip-hop and contemporary dance.

Having put The Nutcracker to bed for another year, NYCB returns to Lincoln Center for five more weeks. Among the offerings are premieres of new works by Alexei Ratmansky and Justin Peck, multiple pieces by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and, just in time for Valentine's Day, Peter Martins's full-length Swan Lake (February 14–23).

YouTube stars and MTV Video Music Award–nominated performer-choreographers Keone and Mari Madrid, who have created dances for Justin Bieber and So You Think You Can Dance, play the lead roles in this immersive dance musical created with Hideaway Circus's Josh Aviner and Lyndsay Magid Aviner. The story, told through West Coast urban dance, is loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet; the design involves a large amount of yarn.

Austin McCormick and his neo-Baroque troupe (Queen of Hearts) specialize in lavish pageants that combine dance, burlesque and circus arts into a heady speciality cocktail. Their latest venture promises a sexy spin on lust, envy, greed and other deadlies.  

Stathas, who returned to dance in 2016 after an absence of more than 30 years, presents a program that includes works both old and new, including 1985's Five Studies for a Waiter and a Business Woman, the more recent Assuage and Conundrum, and the premiere of a solo piece called In the Garden.

Juli (Tense Vagina: an actual diagnosis) takes a darkly humorous look at marriage and its discontents in a feminist dance-theater piece set in a pink bathroom. Storytelling, cake and an original song are part of the package.

The outrageous Dutch choreographer Florentina Holzinger gleefully vandalizes classical ideals of narrative and female beauty in a comic feminist critique inspired very loosely (even promiscuously) by George Balanchine's Apollo. Nudity, of course, is involved. 

Brown and his Brooklyn company merge contemporary movement and spoken-word poetry with traditional African dance. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, the group presents two 1999 works—High Life, a look at African-American identity, and Grace, a tribute to God and Alvin Ailey—alongside a new piece, Mercy, set to original music by Meshell Ndegeocello. 

In the 2020 edition of the ambitious annual Platform series, more than 60 artists explore questions of collaboration, community and interdisciplinary art. Curated by Danspace's Judy Hussie-Taylor and downtown giant Okwui Okpokwasili, the monthlong event includes the durational performance piece Sitting on a Man's Head (by Okpokwasili and Peter Born) as well as conversations, gatherings and workshops.

Triskelion Arts's ongoing series presents work by four emerging companies , paired differently over the course of four evenings. The featured artists this time around are Mark Schmidt and Remi Harris, caitlinadams/Heidco, Collin Kelly and Quentin Burley Dance Group.