Alvin Ailey’s annual gala began with suits and bare chests on the red carpet and ended with dancing to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.”

Ephrat Asherie’s “Shadow Cities” pairs her group’s adept dancers with live music by the great Arturo O’Farrill.Ephrat Asherie, left, and dancers in “Shadow Cities” at the Joyce Theater.

After 40 years of making dances as complicated as human consciousness, Tere O’Connor revives his first work at New York Live Arts. Bonus: He will talk about it.

After years focused on international repertory and new work, the company is returning the choreographer August Bournonville, “our place of belonging,” to the heart of its mission.Members of the Danish Royal Ballet Stephanie Chen Gundorph, left, and Joseph Aumeer in Copenhagen rehearse under a bust of Bournonville.

At New York City Ballet, two boys from the School of American Ballet get to play a coveted role: Fritz, a terror of a little brother.