The Joffrey’s Liliom, which closes Sunday, kicks off a fall season of dance in Chicago that’s busier than a tap solo, what with many out-of-town companies touring through the Harris or Auditorium Theaters and the homegrown dancers all fielding intriguing new-to-Chicago material. If you have to whittle the offerings down to a manageable few, here are a few suggestions.
Liliom
Where: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr.
When: through Sep. 27
Legendary choreographer John Neumeier devised “Liliom” for his home company, the Hamburg Ballet, adapting the same 1909 Hungarian play that inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel,” setting it in neither Budapest nor Maine, but a nameless American city during the Great Depression. In this season opener, the Joffrey Ballet here brings “Liliom” to an American company for the first time after previous productions by only Hamburg and the Czech National Ballet. Neumeier enlisted composer Michel Legrand, a versatile musician known foremost for his film scores (“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Les Demoiselles de Rochefort,” “Yentl”), to write the music for the ballet. Legrand’s unusual instrumentation calls for both an orchestra in the pit and a jazz big band onstage, an arrangement that foregrounds the music more than in many ballets. After the Joffrey’s success with Neumeier’s “The Little Mermaid” a few years ago, “Liliom” looks likely to be another splash. Tickets from $47.
MATADORA
Where: The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
When: Sep. 24–26
The Spanish word “matadora” derives from “matar”: to kill. “Matador,” without the terminal a, is familiar even to non-Spanish speakers as the term for a bullfighter, the killer of the bull (if the fight goes according to plan). The dancemaker INSÉKTA adds an -a to the end, a feminine affix, to title their evening-length world premiere about the suppressed feminine rage of an untameable beast. INSÉKTA, known as Camila Rivero Pooley outside of performing life, graduated in 2018 from Columbia College’s dance program. They staged an earlier version of the work at the Dance Center last year, and then were invited to open the center’s 2026-27 season with the five-dancer piece at its full length. The dance sounds bold — the description of the piece carries a content warning for body horror, harm and sensuality. Tickets from $10.
TAKE
Where: 3031 N. Rockwell St.
When: Oct. 9–25
“Immersive” is the buzzword in all the arts, as groups try to break our Netflix-and-couch habits with increasingly sensory-filled performances that put audiences up close — and sometimes in — the action. In Chicago, the contemporary company Visceral Dance Chicago has been at the vanguard of the phenomenon. In October, the group remounts founder Nick Pupillo’s “Take,” an evening-length immersive work set in a Rockwell Street event space where dancers weave in and out of an audience positioned around the room. The dancing is vigorous, athletic and in your face. The live music, theatrics and invitation to join the dance party at the end will win over even the most committed couch potato. Tickets from $45.
All at Once
Where: Studio5, 1934 Dempster St., Evanston
When: Oct. 16–17
The dance company The Seldoms, now celebrating its 25th year, always approaches its projects thoughtfully, enlisting strong collaborators and underpinning the work with ideas. The world premiere of the full-length version of “All at Once” unifies six dancers and three percussionists to express the concept of showing all perspectives on a visual subject simultaneously, an idea that is central to cubism. Invoking Pablo Picasso’s foundational painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” which depicts five nude sex workers with sharp-angled figuration, Seldoms founder and choreographer Carrie Hanson brings angularity and torque to the dance. Percussionist Tim Daisy, a return Seldoms collaborator, composed the music with space for improvisation and chance, inserting an element of unpredictability. Another re-upping collaborator, Lara Miller, designed a progression of costumes that increases in volume throughout the work. It may not be ultimately possible for beings bound to three dimensions to fulfill cubism’s goal of all perspectives at once, but Hanson has at least thought through all the angles. Tickets from $18.
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Where: Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr.
When: Oct. 17
Dance Theatre of Harlem, one of the first established Black-focused ballet companies, originally premiered its version of Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird in 1982. In their version of the Russian folktale where the title bird catalyzes the triumph of good over evil, DTH moved the action to the Caribbean, allowing for vibrant designs. The company shelved the ballet for about 20 years until reviving it recently, inviting alumni dancers back to re-create the choreography — originally by the mid-20th-century ballet master John Taras — for the current roster. They tour the revival here, where their Chicago stop-off also represents a return, as it’s their first time here since 2016. The program also includes George Balanchine’s “Donizetti Variations” and appropriately for a show with so many coming-back motifs, “Return,” by the company’s artistic director, Robert Garland. Tickets from $44.
Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen
Where: Auditorium Theatre
When: Nov. 7
Everybody knows the music of Leonard Cohen, or at least the omnipresent “Hallelujah.” In addition to that tune, the half-crazy, pensive “Suzanne,” the famous “Famous Blue Raincoat” and several others provide the soundtrack to Ballets Jazz Montréal’s show “Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen,” a Cohen-sanctioned contemporary dance show presented on the 10-year anniversary of Cohen’s death. “Dance Me” marks the Chicago debut of Ballets Jazz Montréal, but local audiences may recognize the style of one of the choreographers, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, whose work has been performed here by Ballet Nacional de Cuba and Ballet Hispánico on tour, and by the Joffrey Ballet on its home turf, most recently in the Frida Kahlo-themed “Broken Wings.” Tickets from $44.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Where: Downstairs theater at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St.
When: Nov. 13–22
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has a tight relationship with the Verdon Fosse Legacy, the foundation that oversees the choreographic archive of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, the dance minds behind the musical “Chicago,” the movie version of “Cabaret” and approximately a million jazz hands (which is five million jazz fingers). Hubbard Street is the only company authorized by the foundation to keep Fosse works in its repertoire, and they have done a number since the agreement was struck in 2024. In its fall series program, HSDC will world-premiere not a Fosse work, but a Fosse-inspired work by Linda Haberman, the artistic director of the foundation and a veteran of several Fosse shows during her performing career. The company also premieres a second piece by Fernando Hernando Magadan, a choreographer connected with Nederlands Dans Theater. Tickets from $20.
Sol Invictus
Where: Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph St.
When: Nov. 14
The dance style of Compagnie Hervé Koubi lives somewhere between contemporary dance, gymnastics, capoeira, cheer and breaking. Dancers spin on their heads. They are launched through the air by their fellow dancers. They do handsprings and flips. But it’s fundamentally dance under the ample pyrotechnics, one step over the dividing line from circus, waving at Cirque du Soleil on the other side. “Sol Invictus,” the work the company is currently touring, takes its name from the sun god of the ancient Roman empire known as the “unconquered,” and the costumes have a tunic kind of flair that makes sure not to get in the way of flaunting abs and pecs. At earlier stops on the tour, reviewers raved about the part of the performance that involves a huge, shiny gold cloth that the dancers spin on and around, swirling and billowing. Tickets from $40.
Cassie Walker Burke contributed reporting.