LaTasha Barnes: The Jazz Continuum centers the prolific artistry of Jazz music and dance as a cornerstone of Black American culture and community. Featuring an intergenerational and multi-disciplinary cast of Black dancers and musicians, this offering to the continuum celebrates the joy and sacred power of the Black experience to each artist - and the ensemble.

Barnes reaches back over 100 years, making visible the connections between the past to today’s Black music and dance expressions such as House, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Line Dances and more! The New York Times said of the Bessie-award winning Barnes that she: “ is especially extraordinary for the way the past and the present can pass through her.” Her facilitation of the casts’ exploration of their relationships to Jazz and its progenies through mind-bending musicality, spectacular athleticism, and boundless joy, shine through the works’ enthralling movement and intoxicating score. Come as you wish to be acknowledged and contribute to the ever-evolving celebration of being, dance and music that is The Jazz Continuum.

With music direction by Charles Turner, The Jazz Continuum celebrates music and dances from across the diaspora among them ​Harlem, Chicago, New Orleans, Cuba, Angola, and Brazil. First commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim and supported by a Works & Process bubble residency in 2021, The Jazz Continuum conjures the spirits of Black dance elders, including Norma Miller, Frankie Manning, Earl Snake Hips Tucker, Marie Bryant, Marjory Smarth, and many others. Be prepared to witness and celebrate the life/lives of the continuum...

The Joyce’s presentation of LaTasha Barnes: The Jazz Continuum is a HARKNESS FIRST Joyce Theater debut, generously supported by The Harkness Foundation for Dance. 

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Curtain Chat: Wed, Oct 12

Family Matinee: Sat, Oct 15 at 2pm

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Health & Safety Protocols

The Joyce Theater has lifted vaccination requirements. Masks will continue to be required at all times for visitors inside the theater, including performances. Click here for our full health & safety protocols.

Funding Credits

Supported by a Joyce Creative Residency awarded to LaTasha Barnes made possible by generous funding provided by Mellon Foundation.