Dance Professor Lisa Race to perform in Sinéad O’Connor tribute in NYC

Connecticut College Professor of Dance Lisa Race is among the performers in The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor, a new dance work that will have its North American premiere Sept. 16-27 at The Joyce Theater in New York City.

The production, conceived, choreographed and directed by Tony Award-winning choreographer Sonya Tayeh, draws on O’Connor’s music, memoir and public life. It had its world premiere this summer at Aviva Studios in Manchester, England, and opens The Joyce Theater’s 2026-2027 season.

Race is one of 10 women performing in the company. For Race, the project brings together her professional work as a performer and her role teaching and mentoring students at Connecticut College.

“It’s such an incredible and rare opportunity, particularly at this age, to be working with Sonya and challenged by movement vocabulary that is new to me,” Race said. “As a performer, teacher and viewer of dance, I think a lot about what life experience brings to the work. To be part of this company of women 40 and older, performing a piece centered on Sinéad O’Connor’s voice and legacy, feels meaningful because the music and Sonya’s choreography ask us to bring our full lives into the room.”

The Joyce Theater run also creates a direct connection for Connecticut College students. Approximately 60 students are expected to attend performances during the engagement, giving them the opportunity to see Race perform in a major new work on one of New York’s leading dance stages.

“Having Connecticut College students see this work at The Joyce makes it even more special,” Race said. “They are seeing the professional practice we talk about in class—the rehearsal process, the discipline, the collaboration and the vulnerability it takes to keep making work over a lifetime. I also hope it challenges some of the assumptions students may have about how long a performing career can last, particularly for women.”

Race, a professor at Conn since 2008, teaches dance technique, improvisation, composition and choreography. She spent much of her career as a performer, teacher and choreographer in New York City before joining Conn’s faculty. She danced with David Dorfman Dance from 1989-2000 and earned a New York Dance and Performance Award, known as a Bessie, in 1995.