Next Wave 2025
            
Part of Fall 2025
For over four decades, Next Wave has stood as a declaration of what BAM believes in: presenting revolutionary works by groundbreaking artists to curious audiences. Showcasing local, national, and global creators whose work spans—and fuses—dance, music, performance art, theater, visual art, and more, Next Wave offers a panoramic view of contemporary innovation—and illuminates the shared ideals and inspirations that bring artists and audiences together.
This year’s Next Wave features iconic artists whose work BAM has celebrated many times over, along with newer talents whose work will define the decades to come. More than a festival, more than a series of events, Next Wave is a state of mind—and a community completed by you, the audience.
Thank you to our Fall and Next Wave 2025 season supporters.
    For over four decades, Next Wave has stood as a declaration of what BAM believes in: presenting revolutionary works by groundbreaking artists to curious audiences. Showcasing local, national, and global creators whose work spans—and fuses—dance, music, performance art, theater, visual art, and more, Next Wave offers a panoramic view of contemporary innovation—and illuminates the shared ideals and inspirations that bring artists and audiences together.
This year’s Next Wave features iconic artists whose work BAM has celebrated many times over, along with newer talents whose work will define the decades to come. More than a festival, more than a series of events, Next Wave is a state of mind—and a community completed by you, the audience.
Thank you to our Fall and Next Wave 2025 season supporters.
                
ON SALE DATES
Thu, May 15 at 1pm ET
BAM Members and Patrons
Thu, May 22 at 1pm ET
General Public
BAM Members and Patrons get first access and save 20% on tickets through July 31, 2025
Join Now
View the Next Wave 2025 Brochure
            Thu, May 15 at 1pm ET
BAM Members and Patrons
Thu, May 22 at 1pm ET
General Public
BAM Members and Patrons get first access and save 20% on tickets through July 31, 2025
Join Now
View the Next Wave 2025 Brochure
October
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 Dance | Theater Dance | TheaterMartha@BAM—The 1963 InterviewOct 28—Nov 1, 2025 Martha@BAM—The 1963 InterviewOct 28—Nov 1, 2025Next WaveRecreating a 1963 interview between the iconic choreographer Martha Graham and dance critic Walter Terry, Richard Move embodies Graham live on stage, evoking her indomitable spirit.
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 Visual Art | Performance Art Visual Art | Performance ArtStanding Slightly Outside: Franklin Furnace, 1976—2026Oct 2025—Jan 2026 Standing Slightly Outside: Franklin Furnace, 1976—2026Oct 2025—Jan 2026Next WaveFranklin Furnace, a crucial downtown New York arts space and archive currently based at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, is the subject of a gallery show marking its 50th anniversary in 2026.
November
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 Dance | Music Dance | MusicOptimistic VoicesNov 5—Nov 8, 2025 Optimistic VoicesNov 5—Nov 8, 2025Next WaveJuliana F. May creates thrillingly elaborate cycles of song, text, and movement from the wreckage of difficult experience, probing the intractable contradictions of family, eroticism, and motherhood.
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 Poetry | Music | Film Poetry | Music | FilmI Guess It Was My Destiny To Live So LongNov 18—Nov 21, 2025 I Guess It Was My Destiny To Live So LongNov 18—Nov 21, 2025Next WaveCurated by Hanif Abdurraqib, a constellation of artists, writers, and performers activate BAM’s spaces, illuminating the truths of our moment via poetic imagination.
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 Theater | Music Theater | MusicFOR REALNov 19—Nov 23, 2025 FOR REALNov 19—Nov 23, 2025NEXT WAVEPart theatrical radio show, part live podcast, and part collective reckoning, FOR REAL blends original live music, storytelling, and unscripted conversation in a raw, resonant act of collective listening.
December & Beyond
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 Dance | Film | Theater Dance | Film | TheaterFor All Your LifeDec 3—Dec 7, 2025 For All Your LifeDec 3—Dec 7, 2025Next WaveChoreographer Leslie Cuyjet investigates the value of Black life and death in a performance, film, and social experiment that draws upon the life insurance industry for method and metaphor.
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 Theater | Music | Opera Theater | Music | OperaWhat to wearJan 15—Jan 17, 2026 What to wearJan 15—Jan 17, 2026Next WaveRichard Foreman and Michael Gordon’s raucous post-rock opera is remounted for the first time in two decades, with creative direction by Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar.
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 Music MusicNatalia LafourcadeApr 10—Apr 11, 2026 Natalia LafourcadeApr 10—Apr 11, 2026Next WaveCelebrated Mexican singer-songwriter, composer, producer, and activist Natalia Lafourcade fuses beloved traditional Latin idioms with a modern sensibility for her stripped-down, intimate Cancionera tour.
Past Events
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 Dance DanceDambudzonora chipaumire combines sound, painting, sculpture, and performance in this immersive work.Oct 8—Oct 9, 2025Next Wave
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 Dance DanceWhat Is WarEiko Otake and Wen Hui weave a complex tapestry of movement, language, and video.Oct 21—Oct 25, 2025Next Wave
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 Theater TheaterLACRIMAA Parisian fashion house gets an extraordinary commission, binding lives around the globe.Oct 22—Oct 26, 2025Next Wave














