Lincoln Center's new contemporary dance festival is coming back in January, and this time every company on the bill is based in New York City. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced the lineup on Oct. 22: the festival's first winter season opens Jan. 6, 2027, in Alice Tully Hall, and every event is free or choose-what-you-pay.

A festival twice a year

The Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival is designed to run twice a year, every summer and every winter. It launched in June 2026 with five international companies. The winter edition turns to choreographers who live and work in the city.

The program includes one world premiere, two New York premieres and two works commissioned by the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance, the Lincoln Center program that produces the festival.

The lineup

  • Netta Yerushalmy opens the season with MOVEMENT, a piece built from more than 100 citations drawn from dances across genres.
  • Heidi Latsky presents Days of Awe, the season's world premiere and a Pasculano commission.
  • Hannah Garner's 2nd Best Dance Company brings back a reimagined version of Slumber.
  • Omar Roman de Jesus and BOCA TUYA give the New York premiere of Sombreristas.
  • Shamel Pitts and TRIBE give the New York premiere of Marks of RED, with sets by the Tony-winning designer Mimi Lien.
  • Juilliard Dance marks its 75th anniversary with new works by Caili Quan and Rosie Herrera.

Beyond the performances, Lincoln Center plans pre-show talks, a lobby exhibition in Alice Tully Hall and a new NextGen Choreographers program for four high school dancers. Later in the season, an evening honoring Carmen de Lavallade will bring together dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Free or choose-what-you-pay

All festival events use the free or choose-what-you-pay model Lincoln Center adopted in 2022. Lincoln Center says that approach has drawn nearly 3 million people to the campus since it began.

The festival is funded through the Pasculano Collaborative, created in March 2025 with a $50 million founding gift from Lynne and Richard Pasculano, which Lincoln Center describes as the largest programming gift in its history. Donald Borror has directed the Collaborative since December 2025.

What is not announced yet

Lincoln Center's announcement gives the opening date but not the full night-by-night calendar or the date choose-what-you-pay reservations open. Both are expected on Lincoln Center's site closer to January. For Upper West Side residents, the practical point is that a season of new dance, much of it by artists who live in the five boroughs, will be playing a few blocks away at whatever price they choose.

How to go

Alice Tully Hall is on the Lincoln Center campus at Broadway and West 65th Street. The closest train is the 1 at 66th Street-Lincoln Center; the A, B, C, D and 1 at 59th Street-Columbus Circle are a short walk south, and the M5, M7, M66 and M104 buses stop nearby. The festival opens Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2027.

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