By Joshua David Stein

If contemporary ballet doesn’t seem a particularly badass pursuit, don’t tell Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, the two former U.K. Royal Ballet dancers who founded Ballet Boyz in 2001. The two men are to the dance world what Gordon Ramsay is to the culinary world: outspoken, relentlessly innovative, and unashamedly populist.
At 38, Billy Trevitt has been dancing 32 years, and he’s known Michael for 22 of them. The two met at the Royal Ballet and danced the same roles for much of their careers. “We realized you could spend your whole career as passive men in Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, trucking women up and down the stage,” says Trevitt. “We wanted to explore.” After a disappointing stint in Japan (“more of the same”) the two started Ballet Boyz, taking the name from a Channel 4 program that followed them around—and cast them into the dirty dreams of danceophiles—in 2004.
In the seven years since joining forces they’ve worked for and with everyone from ballet wunderkind Christopher Wheeldon to “Madame Non” Sylvie Guillem. In July the company descends upon Jacob’s Pillow, America’s longest-running dance festival, in Becket, Mass., with yet another collaborative work, this time with legendary graphic artist Linda Karshan.

U.S. premiere July 16–20; JacobsPillow.org

Five more dance events feature tremendous bodies in motion:

The Deborah Hay Dance Company
If Radiohead were a choreographer, it'd be Deborah Hay: spectral, abstract, beautiful.
July 7-19, Marfa, Texas; DeborahHay.com

Kunst-Stoff
Highly emotive and athletic pieces mine the traditions of classical dance while cunningly undermining them as well.
July 18-20, San Francisco; Kunst-Stoff.org

Chunky Move
Avant-garde Australian troupe combines high-tech algorithms and playful athleticism; At Dance/USA and International Arts & Ideas.
June 12, Denver; DanceUSA.org
June 14-28, New Haven, Conn.; Artidea.org

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
The thriving company produces challenging, quick-witted pieces; see Chapel/Chapter at Jacob's Pillow.
July 3-6, Becket, Mass.; BillTJones.org

American Ballet Theatre
The temple of classical dance's season includes magnetic Angel Corella in Don Quixote and epic jumper Herman Cornejo in Sleeping Beauty.
Through July 12, New York City; ABT.org