Dance Performances

Dance Performances are coming to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty, with a run that stretches from December 5 through February 27. It's not a single night, but a series of dates: Saturday, December 5; Saturday, January 16, 2027; and Saturday, February 27, 2027. Each of those three Saturdays has two showtimes, 4 PM and 6 PM, so you can pick the one that fits your schedule.

The venue is the Kelly Strayhorn Theater at 5941 Penn Avenue, a restored 1914 vaudeville house that's been a landmark in East Liberty for a long time. It's spent years hosting evening-length dance, theater, music, and interdisciplinary contemporary performance from both local and global artists, with work developed through grants like the National Dance Project and the National Performance Network's Creation and Development Fund. Since 2021, the lobby has also doubled as a gallery for exhibitions by Pittsburgh-based artists.

Beyond the main stage, the theater runs the HomeMakers Initiative, which takes its name from bell hooks' "Homeplace as a site of resistance" and creates welcoming entry points for Black, Indigenous, people of color, and queer communities. There's also a Youth & Family program that stages annual youth-focused events. And this past fall, the theater launched the Suite Life Paradigm Awards, which honor performing artists and behind-the-scenes visionaries redefining music and dance in Greater Pittsburgh—a nod to the theater's namesakes, Billy Strayhorn and Gene Kelly.

Tickets start at $45, with zones A through D available on a first-come, first-served basis. With the shows spread across December, January, and February, you've got plenty of room to figure out which Saturday works best for you.