The University of Arizona School of Dance opens its 2026–2027 season with Fall for Dance, an evening of four premieres and a beloved return that travels from jazz standards to Chopin, from 1970s nightlife to the barbershop.
The program opens with Tamara Dyke-Compton’s Morning, Noon and Night (2019), three duets set to music by Ray Charles, Roy Hargrove, and Frank Sinatra that trace a relationship from the spark of new love through partnership to loss.
Monique Dorame, co-director of The Drop, Tucson’s first street dance nonprofit studio, premieres Waacking Windsongwith our fourth-year graduating cohort. Rooted in a style born from Black and Latino queer nightlife in 1970s Los Angeles, the work honors waacking’s origins while imagining where it can go next.
Guest choreographer Juel D. Lane, whose work has been performed by Ailey II, Hubbard Street, and Atlanta Ballet, premieres I Saved You a Peppermint: Testimonials. Created in close exchange with our dancers, these solos explore discovery, reflection, and giving ourselves permission to feel.
Trent D. Williams Jr. presents BarberTalks, the second installment of his barbershop work. Inspired by his grandmother’s life as an African American barber, the piece explores Black womanhood, labor, memory, and the barbershop as a place of healing and community.
The evening closes with Christopher Compton’s Preludes, a 25-minute ballet set to Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28. First conceived in 2017, the work returns fully reimagined, asking how memory shifts as we ourselves change. Danced by two alternating casts, it puts the lyricism and precision of our ballet training on full display.
Five choreographers. Four premieres. One season opener you won’t want to miss.
Individual tickets go on sale now!