Acclaimed and Emerging Dancers and Choreographers Join FIRE ISLAND DANCE FESTIVAL Lineup 

An electrifying roster of dancers from around the world will take the stage July 15-17, 2022, at Fire Island Dance Festival. The homecoming of spectacular dance to the shores of Fire Island Pines marks the return of this beloved cultural celebration, the first in-person festival since 2019.

The annual weekend featuring established and emerging choreographers and companies is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tickets for the festival are now on sale at dradance.org.

Among the diverse dance companies and choreographers to be featured are:

National Ballet of Canada principal dancers Harrison James and Ben Rudisin, premiering a romantic pas de deux choreographed by Joshua Beamish

Emerging choreographer Akira Uchida, creating a work that is an eclectic fusion of contemporary dance, jazz and club grooves

Buglisi Dance Theatre with a reimagined excerpt of "Requiem," originally created for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at Lincoln Center and dedicated to "world peace, to all those suffering from the global crises and the pandemic, and to all those who continue to suffer from HIV/AIDS"

Festival favorite Caleb Teicher, creating a social dance hustle with Abdiel Jacobsen, former principal of the Martha Graham Dance Company, in the festival's first non-binary duet.

The Verdon Fosse Legacy with "Sweet Gwen Suite," a trio of short dances originally performed by Gwen Verdon on "The Bob Hope Special" in 1968 and "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1969. Each was choreographed by Verdon and Fosse and features Georgina Pazcoguin, "Rogue Ballerina" and soloist with New York City Ballet, dancing Verdon's roles.

Performers are subject to change. Additional performers will be announced later this spring.

Fire Island Dance Festival (#fidance), which had been on an in-person hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, has raised more than $6.9 million since the festival began in 1995. Through their generous support, Fire Island Dance Festival attendees have helped ensure that those in need throughout the New York area and in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., receive lifesaving medications, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance.

The weekend kicks off with the Friday night Leadership Event, an intimate evening of cocktails and a special performance exclusively for Leadership Supporters. The experience continues with three Fire Island Dance Festival performances: the opening performance at 5 pm on Saturday, July 16; Leadership Sunset Performance at 7 pm on Saturday, July 16; and closing performance at 5 pm on Sunday, July 17.

Leadership Supporters enjoy an elevated festival experience that includes the Leadership Event with cocktails on Friday, highly coveted tickets to the sunset performance on Saturday or priority seating at either 5 pm performance, as well as recognition in the harbor and throughout the Pines. Leadership tickets start at $375. Individual tickets for the 5 pm performances are $175.

A hassle-free day trip package is available, which features round-trip luxury transportation from New York City, a champagne luncheon and tickets to the 5 pm performance on Sunday, July 17. A Sunday VIP option, which includes the champagne luncheon and tickets to the Sunday show without the transportation, also is available. The day trip package is $275; the Sunday VIP option is $225. Beginning May 28, tickets also will be available in person on weekends in the Fire Island Pines Harbor.

The exciting return of Fire Island Dance Festival has been made possible thanks, in part, to the generosity of the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation in memory of Diana King, SHS Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Corporate sponsors of Fire Island Dance Festival include The New York Times and United Airlines.

Dancers Responding to AIDS relies on the extraordinary compassion and efforts of the performing arts community to fund a safety net of social services for those in need. As a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, DRA supports the essential programs of the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including the HIV/AIDS Initiative and The Dancers' Resource, as well as more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide. For more information, please visit Dancers Responding to AIDS at dradance.org.