The 92nd Street Y, New York announces Home: Departure and Return, the Harkness Mainstage Series 2026/27 season, unfolding at the threshold between home and elsewhere, tradition and change, belonging and becoming. This season’s artists push at the borders of identity, culture, and tradition, asking what it means to leave home, return to it, or build it again. Drawing on dance forms shaped by migration and exchange, they reimagine inherited traditions with urgency and energy. Performances are in the historic Kaufmann Concert Hall, Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center, and outside these halls, as new transformed spaces in 92NY’s building become part of the performance. Select programs are also available to stream for a limited time following the performance date. Tickets are on sale today and available at https://www.92ny.org/culture-arts/school-of-the-arts/dance/performances.
 
The season opens with Ballet Hispánico New York performing excerpts from Eduardo Vilaro’s Buscando a Juan (Looking for Juan); Marianela Boán’s Reactor Antígona (Antigone Reactor); and Pedro Ruiz’s Guajira, along with the world premiere of a documentary directed by Nel Shelby. Filmed in Cuba, the documentary captures Pedro Ruiz’s process creating a new work on Malpaso Dance Company. The season closes with 92NY’s inaugural Dance on Film Festival, showcasing a platform that knows no boundaries.
 
Home also features Christopher Williams, Johnnie Cruise Mercer and FLOCK bringing premieres to our stage;Doug Varone and Dancers — a longtime Harkness Dance Center resident company — return to celebrate their 40th anniversary; American Repertory Ballet makes their 92NY debut with works by Lar Lubovitch, Ethan Stiefel and a commission by Yue Yin; Ephrat Asherie Dance presents a unique collaboration with animator Mo Willems; Trisha Brown Dance Company takes over multiple 92NY spaces for an evening that includes performance, installation and video; and Bridgman | Packer Dance makes their 92NY debut with Ghost Factory, their latest work.
 
The 2026/27 season includes two festivals in addition to the new Dance on Film Festival. The Uptown Rhythm Dance Festival returns with a world premiere from former Harkness Artist in Residence Naomi Funaki, followed by two evenings with Art Bath, expanding from its original vision to encompass additional art forms like literature and visual arts. The Future Dance Festival, now in its sixth season, continues to present new talent in performance and on film.
 
“Home begins with a question that feels both timeless and especially resonant right now: What does it mean to have a home? In a moment when issues of migration, immigration, borders, and belonging are never far from public conversation, the artists in Home respond to the idea of fixed boundaries with movement,” comments Alison Manning, Co-Executive Director, 92NY Harkness Dance Center. “Their work explores how identity, culture, and tradition are carried across geographies and generations, and how home can be preserved, reimagined, or rebuilt when the ground beneath us keeps shifting.”
 
Manning goes on to note, “This theme feels deeply connected to the history of the 92nd Street Y itself. For more than 90 years, 92NY has been a home for dance artists, including modern dance pioneers and visionary creators who were not always welcomed or supported elsewhere. That legacy of artistic risk, cultural exchange, and creative refuge continues to shape who we are today, as we invite artists and audiences alike to consider how we build, carry, and redefine home.”