From February 19 to March 21, 2026, Van Cleef & Arpels returns to New York with a renewed cultural proposition: Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, a city-wide festival unfurling across multiple venues and presenting 20 performances that trace the living continuum of contemporary choreography.
The festival reads as a curatorial statement that places choreographic heritage in dialogue with the present moment. Opening night sets the tone with a compelling juxtaposition: BIPED by Merce Cunningham, a landmark of late-20th-century dance, followed by Mycelium by Christos Papadopoulos, a meditative contemporary work inspired by organic systems and collective rhythm. Together, they establish the festival’s central theme of continuity and innovation.
Across New York City Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Guggenheim Rotunda, NYU Skirball, New York Live Arts and the Park Avenue Armory, the program is unveiled as a panorama of choreographic languages. Highlights include (LA)HORDE Ballet national de Marseille with The Age of Content, a work probing digital identity and embodiment; Early Works by Lucinda Childs, staged within the spiralling geometry of the Guggenheim; and Reflections: A Triptych by Benjamin Millepied, performed by L.A. Dance Project, a commission born from the Maison’s long-standing dialogue with movement, materiality and light.
The festival also revisits pivotal artistic intersections. Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown & Cunningham Onstage brings together works shaped by Robert Rauschenberg, including Trisha Brown’s Set and Reset and Cunningham’s Travelogue, the latter performed by a professional company for the first time since 1979. It is a reminder that dance history is something to be re-encountered and passed on.
That idea of transmission sits at the heart of Dance Reflections. Alongside performances, the 2026 edition expands its educational dimension, hosting workshops at the New York Center for Creativity & Dance, where choreographers and dancers step into the role of educators, opening their vocabularies to professionals, students and the public alike.
The Maison’s relationship with dance stretches back nearly a century, formed in the late 1940s when Claude Arpels met choreographer George Balanchine which was a meeting that would later give rise to Jewels in 1967. Today, Dance Reflections carries that lineage forward, positioning dance as cultural heritage and contemporary expression.
“In 2023, the first New York edition of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival marked a significant milestone in the program’s young history. Over several weeks, some ten different performances including recent works and pieces from the contemporary repertoire, as well as dance workshops, provided a panorama of international choreographic creation. We are delighted to experience another such moment of exchange with the city’s audience in 2026… We hope that this new program will enable a growing audience to discover a universe whose richness, still often underrecognised, has captivated and inspired our Maison for over 80 years,” says Catherine Renier, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels.
In New York, Dance Reflections once again affirms Van Cleef & Arpels’ belief that true luxury lies in sustaining the art forms that shape how we see the world. This asserts the power of sustained artistry, where heritage, experimentation and human presence share the same stage.
