Emily Coates’ “Tell Me Where It Comes From” to premiere at the Guggenheim

Dancer, writer, and choreographer Emily Coates presents the world premiere of Tell Me Where It Comes From, a performance project commissioned by Works & Process, on Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 7 PM at Guggenheim New York in the Peter B. Lewis Theater, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased here.

Inspired by George Balanchine’s brief but pivotal 1933 visit to Hartford, Connecticut, Coates gathered archival artifacts from across the northeastern United States to explore his enduring choreographic legacy. The performance combines unanswered letters, lost ballets, photographs, music exercises, and early muses into a collage that meditates on the spark that drives art into existence.

Coates, a former New York City Ballet dancer and recipient of the School of American Ballet’s Mae L. Wein Award for Outstanding Promise, has performed internationally with the White Oak Dance Project, Twyla Tharp, and Yvonne Rainer. Her choreography transforms archival material, literature, and science into innovative performance work and has been presented by Danspace Project, Performa, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Works & Process at Guggenheim, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and Ballet Memphis. She is also a Professor in the Practice at Yale University and was the founding Director of Dance Studies there from 2006 to 2025.

The production features a cross-disciplinary team including director Ain Gordon, performer Derek Lucci, violinist and composer Charles Burnham, pianist Melvin Chen, lighting designer Krista Smith, and costume designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung. Their collaboration brings together dance, music, theater, and visual design to create a layered portrait of Balanchine’s influence.

Developed through Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at The Church in Sag Harbor—home to Balanchine’s grave—and the Catskill Mountain Foundation in Hunter, New York, the work also received support from the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, New England Foundation for the Arts Dance Fund, and the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow.

Following the performance, attendees are invited to a post-performance reception in the Guggenheim rotunda to continue the conversation.

Tell Me Where It Comes From offers audiences a rare glimpse into the archival and creative process behind one of ballet’s most influential figures, presented through the innovative lens of Emily Coates and her exceptional artistic collaborators.

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