A Colorado amphitheater, a Manhattan staircase and a skating rink on Martha’s Vineyard — these are just a few of places to see dance this season. We also picked our favorite festivals in theater, classical music and pop.

DanceAfrica

BROOKLYN, MAY 25-28 You know that summer is on its way when DanceAfrica takes over the Brooklyn Academy of Music and its surrounding streets. This year’s edition focuses on South African culture and history, honoring the centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth. The main event features the Ingoma Kwazulu Natal Dance Company — a conglomerate of four South African troupes joining forces especially for the occasion — alongside the Durban-based group Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre and Brooklyn’s own electrifying BAM/Restoration Dance Youth Ensemble. Through an array of traditional and contemporary styles, the program traces links between South Africa’s anti-apartheid and America’s civil rights movements, not neglecting the present. bam.org

Spoleto Festival

CHARLESTON, S.C., MAY 25-JUNE 10 The New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns and the choreographer Jodi Melnick may come from different worlds — classical ballet and postmodern dance — but they share a similar dedication to discovery, to uncovering layers of artistry new to their audiences and themselves. That curiosity comes through in “New Bodies,” Ms. Melnick’s intimate work for Ms. Mearns and her fellow City Ballet dancers Jared Angle and Gretchen Smith. Presented June 7-10, it should be a highlight of this year’s Spoleto offerings, which open with Miami City Ballet’s “Celebration: The Art of the Pas de Deux,” a tribute to Jerome Robbins. spoletousa.org