The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts' Jerome Robbins Dance Division Commissions Eight Artists for 75th Anniversary Gala

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division will continue the celebration of its 75th year with a once-in-a-lifetime gala on Wednesday, December 4 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center. The event will feature eight new works commissioned by the Dance Division for the occasion, performed throughout the Library for the Performing Arts, from Ephrat Asherie, The Bang Group, Jean Butler, Adrian Danchig-Waring (making his choreographic debut), Heidi Latsky, Michelle Manzanales, Rajika Puri, and Pam Tanowitz.

The event will also include a special performance of excerpts from Other Dances, which Jerome Robbins created in honor of the Dance Division for a 1976 gala to benefit the Library for the Performing Arts. American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Sarah Lane and New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Gonzalo Garcia will perform the featured roles originated by Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

The gala is the latest major event in a milestone year for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, which has celebrated its 75th anniversary by acquiring the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Collection; mounting Archive in Motion: 75 Years of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, an exhibition tracing the history of the Division currently on display in the Library's Vincent Astor Gallery; and welcoming a new class of Dance Research Fellows, all of whom are exploring collections within the Division's holdings that were selected by its staff and former curators. The 75th anniversary celebration will wrap up with a symposium showcasing the Dance Research Fellows' final projects on Friday, January 24, 2020. 

Tickets for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division's 75th Anniversary Gala, which include the performances as well as a cocktail hour and seated dinner, are available by calling 917-ASK-NYPL or emailing Dance Division Curator Linda Murray at LindaMurray@nypl.org. 

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is the world’s largest dance archive with an international and extensive collection that spans seven centuries. We provide a community space for dance professionals, researchers and the general public, offering programs and exhibitions, a dance studio for special projects, educational activities, residencies, fellowships, documentation of performances and oral histories and, of course, dance reference services, all free of charge.

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division 75th Anniversary Gala Chairs

Caroline Cronson & The Jerome Robbins Foundation

Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Charles Adelman, Dr. Jeffrey Borer, Beverly D’Anne, Hubert Goldschmidt, Perry Granoff, Allen Greenberg, Caroline H. Hyman, Peter Kayafas, Nancy Lassalle, Kate Lear, Marion Martin, Alison Mazzola, Madeleine Nichols, Dr. Meryl Rosofsky, Elizabeth Simpson, Edward Villella, William H. Wright II.

About The New York Public Library For The Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world’s most extensive combinations of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts — whether professional or amateur — the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs. The Library is part of The New York Public Library system, which has 92 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, and is a lead provider of free education for all.