Detroit Opera Welcomes Four Incredible Dance Companies for 2026-27 Season
- Jun 25
- 6 min read
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and Dance Theatre of Harlem headline the DO Dance Season
DETROIT – Contemporary ballet innovators, street-dance visionaries, and world-renowned classical ballet companies will take the Detroit Opera House stage in Dance @ Detroit Opera’s 2026–27 season. The season will open on October 17 with Ballets Jazz Montréal performing their tour de force Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen. Choreographer Rennie Harris, praised by The New Yorker as “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America,” will bring his company, RENNIE HARRIS.
PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater, to Detroit with American Street Dancer on January 23, featuring street and tap dance styles created in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Detroit favorite Dance Theatre of Harlem will return for the company’s eleventh residency at the Detroit Opera House with two performances (Feb. 21 and 22, program TBA). American Ballet Theatre will conclude the season with three performances of their classic Swan Lake, set to Tchaikovsky’s celebrated score, performed live by the Detroit Opera Orchestra (May 1 and 2).
Subscriptions are on sale now in person at the box office, at 313.237.7464, and at Detroitopera.org. Single tickets go on sale July 1.
2026/27 Dance @ Detroit Opera Series
Ballets Jazz Montréal
Program: Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen
Saturday, October 17 @ 7:30pm
Sexy, explosive, and completely original, Ballets Jazz Montréal arrives in Detroit with their highly anticipated tour de force Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen. Dance Me is an exclusive creation inspired by the rich and profound work of Montréal-based poet, artist, and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Approved by Cohen during his lifetime, this riveting homage evokes the grand cycles of existence, as described in Cohen’s deeply reflective music and poems. Three internationally renowned choreographers were entrusted with putting movement to Cohen’s legendary songs: Andonis Foniadakis, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Ihsan Rustem. Their powerful and profound choreography is brought to life by Ballets Jazz Montréal’s 14 artists and the bold dramaturgy of Eric Jean. Dance Me combines scenic, visual, musical, dramaturgical, and choreographic writing to pay tribute to Montréal’s greatest ambassador. Dance, music, lighting, scenography, and videography all come together in this unforgettable show.
Leonard Cohen songs featured in Dance Me include “Here It Is” (2001), “Lover, Lover, Lover” (1974), “Dance Me to the End of Love” (Live in London, 2009), “Boogie Street” (Live in London, 2009), “Steer Your Way” (2016), “Everybody Knows” (2001), “Tower of Song” (1988), “So Long, Marianne” (1967), “A Thousand Kisses Deep” (poem), “Suzanne” (1967), “Famous Blue Raincoat” (1971), “Nevermind” (2014), “First We Take Manhattan” (1988), “It Seemed the Better Way” (2016), “Hallelujah” (1984), and “String Reprise / Treaty” (2016).
Ballets Jazz Montréal is an internationally renowned contemporary dance company founded in 1972. With Alexandra Damiani as Artistic Director since 2021 and its troupe of high-caliber dancers from around the world, the company is one of the most prolific dance companies in Canada and a major force on the Montréal cultural scene.
Dance masterclass: Ballets Jazz Montréal will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on October 17 at 11am; free for ticketholders, $15 for non-ticketholders; pre-registration is required.
RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater
Program: American Street Dancer
Saturday, January 23 @ 7:30pm
With his 2025 creation American Street Dancer, choreographer Rennie Harris pays tribute to the profound influence of street dance on the arts. American Street Dancer celebrates diverse dance styles, such as Jitting from Detroit, Footwork from Chicago, Afro-Cuban/Salsa from New York, and GQ from Philadelphia, with each style bringing its own unique flair and history, reflecting the vibrant and multifaceted nature of street dance across the U.S. The performance will feature a live hip-hop orchestra with a DJ, bucket players, and beatboxers, as well as an impressive line-up of acclaimed artists such as House of Jit, Creation Global, Akim Funk Buddha, DJ Razor Ramon, Ayodele Casel, and Harris’s own RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater. American Street Dancer honors the pioneers of street dance, whose contributions have sometimes been forgotten.
The New York Times’ Gia Kourlas named American Street Dancer one of the best dance performances of 2025. In her review of the New York premiere last November, Kourlas wrote, “Harris is not just a choreographer but an educator, a word that can seem dry. Harris, though, is enthralling, whether making dances or imparting wisdom about their origins. In this full-length work, performed at the Joyce Theater, he pointed a lens on Chicago footwork, Detroit Jit and Philly GQ, with local dancers doing the honors; Ayodele Casel, in a tap solo, was astonishing, too. From start to finish, the show was a testament to the generous breadth of Harris’s artistry.”
Student performance: RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater will offer a special student performance at the Detroit Opera House, on Friday, January 22 at 11am, offered in partnership with DPSCD’s “Passport to the Arts” program.
Dance masterclass: RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on January 23 at 11am; free for ticketholders, $15 for non-ticketholders; pre-registration is required.
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Saturday, February 20 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, February 21 @ 2:30pm
A singular presence in the ballet world, Dance Theatre of Harlem tours nationally and internationally, presenting a powerful vision for ballet in the 21st century. The company performs a forward-thinking repertoire that includes treasured classics, neoclassical works by George Balanchine and Artistic Director Robert Garland, as well as innovative contemporary works that use the language of ballet to celebrate co-founder Arthur Mitchell’s belief that ballet belongs to everyone. Through performances, community engagement and arts education, the Dance Theatre of Harlem carries forward its message of empowerment through the arts for all.
Last season, Dance Theatre of Harlem presented a dynamic program at the Detroit Opera House showcasing beloved classics and bold contemporary works, along with the highly anticipated remount of Firebird, a ballet the company had not performed in more than 20 years. That Firebird revival—which transports the fairy tale from Russia to a tropical jungle through John Taras’s vibrant choreography and Geoffrey Holder’s fantastical sets and costumes—got its first look in Detroit before a tour that took it to New York and Paris, where it was met with roaring acclaim at the Palais des Congrès.
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s connection with Detroit dates back five decades. “Detroit is a very natural and comfortable home for us,” ballerina and former Artistic Director Virginia Johnson remarked in 2022. “There’s something about the way African-Americans have shaped the arts in Detroit that is especially resonant to the way Dance Theatre of Harlem shapes the art form of classical ballet.” Artis Lane, the renowned sculptor and longtime Detroit resident, designed the original logo for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among those who were instrumental in bringing the company to Detroit in 1976 were Detroit Opera’s founder, David DiChiera; Dance Theatre of Harlem Board Member Sharon Madison; the late philanthropist Betty Brooks; and civic and community leader Alice Combs. Executive Director Anna Glass is originally from metro Detroit, and her family still resides in the community. She and company artists Derek Brockington and Ariana Dickerson attended Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy.
Dance masterclass: Dance Theatre of Harlem will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on February 20 at 11am; free for ticketholders, $15 for non-ticketholders; pre-registration is required.
American Ballet Theatre
Swan Lake, with the Detroit Opera Orchestra
Saturday, May 1 @ 2pm
Saturday, May 1 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, May 2 @ 2pm
After an absence of nine years, American Ballet Theatre makes its triumphant return to Detroit for three performances of the quintessential classic Swan Lake. Featuring the unforgettable corps de ballet moving in magical unison as the swans, this romantic fable of dreamlike transformation tells the story of a Prince who falls in love with a Swan Queen under the power of von Rothbart, a wicked sorcerer. It is set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score, performed live by the Detroit Opera Orchestra. American Ballet Theatre’s current production, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, had its world premiere in 2000 and was the centerpiece of the company's 60th-anniversary season.
Swan Lake, composed in 1875–76, was Tchaikovsky’s first ballet. It is recognized as a ballet masterpiece, along with Tchaikovsky’s ballets The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, all beloved works firmly entrenched in the international repertoire.
American Ballet Theatre is considered one of the greatest dance companies in the world, revered as a living national treasure since its founding in 1939. Few ballet companies rival ABT in size, scope, and outreach. Though located in New York City, American Ballet Theatre regularly tours the United States and internationally. In 1939, ABT was launched with the mission of developing a repertoire of the best ballets from the past, and the creation of new works by gifted choreographers, wherever they might be found. ABT’s celebrated repertoire includes beloved full-length classics from the nineteenth century: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle; many of the finest works from the twentieth century: Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas, Fancy Free, Rodeo, Airs, Push Comes to Shove, In the Upper Room, and Duets; and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces, including Shostakovich Trilogy and Serenade after Plato’s Symposium. ABT has commissioned works by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, among others. Former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Susan Jaffe has served as Artistic Director since December 2022.
Dance masterclass: American Ballet Theatre will offer a masterclass at the Detroit Opera House on May 1 at 11am; free for ticketholders, $15 for non-ticketholders; pre-registration is required.
