Catherine Hurlin and Miriam Miller Join Fire Island Dance Festival
Featuring choreography by Robert Battle, Joshua Beamish, Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, Adriana Pierce, Akira Uchida and more.
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 14, 2022
Two of ballet's most preeminent dancers, American Ballet Theatre principal Catherine Hurlin and New York City Ballet soloist Miriam Miller, are joining the luminous lineup of this weekend's Fire Island Dance Festival, which runs July 15-17, 2022, in Fire Island Pines, NY. The annual event is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
A limited number of tickets remain available. More information available at dradance.org or in person from 10 am-1 pm this Saturday and Sunday in the Fire Island Pines harbor.
Sixteen years after her Fire Island Dance Festival debut at the age of 10, Hurlin returns to the festival just days after being promoted to principal at American Ballet Theatre following rave reviews for her performances this season at the Met. Hurlin also took to the dance festival's stage in 2010 and again in 2019. She will perform Kitri's Third Act Variation from Don Quixote. Hurlin is the daughter of Dancers Responding to AIDS Founding Director Denise Roberts Hurlin and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' Senior Production Manager Nathan Hurlin.
Miller will join Les Grands Ballets Canadiens corps de ballet member Kiara DeNae Felder to perform "Lay Your Love on Me," choreographed by Adriana Pierce. Pierce established #QueerTheBallet to create work focusing on queer cisgendered women, trans and nonbinary performers of all gender identities and to instill intention, authenticity and pride into all ballet spaces.
Gibney Company's artistic associate Jake Tribus also has just been added to the lineup. He will perform choreographer Michaela Taylor's new solo work, Colors, exploring a multitude of movement, textures and range.
Acclaimed American Ballet Theatre principal James Whiteside, who's also an accomplished author and podcaster, will host this year's Fire Island Dance Festival, Whiteside has been a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre since 2013. His choreographic skills have been enlisted by the likes of lauded recording artists Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift. Outside of dance, Whiteside authored the recently published memoir of essays Center Center, an unapologetic celebration of queerness, self-expression, friendship and creativity. The multi-hyphenate extraordinaire is making his return to the Fire Island Dance Festival stage after last performing at the festival in 2017 and choreographing a piece in 2019.
Other performers at this year's festival include:
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, showcasing choreographer Robert Battle's solo piece "Ella," featuring Chalvar Monteiro in his fourth festival appearance pairing whimsical, high-energy moves with Ella Fitzgerald's virtuosic scatting
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 .
National Ballet of Canada principal dancers Harrison James and Ben Rudisin, premiering a romantic pas de deux choreographed by Joshua Beamish
Festival favorite Caleb Teicher, creating a social dance hustle with Abdiel, 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.
Friday night's Leadership Event at Whyte Hall will kick off the ecstatic weekend for Leadership Supporters. Cocktails and a performance by New York City's own Parsons Dance will be included in the exclusive celebration. The renowned contemporary dance company will share a striking presentation of David Parsons' The Road.
Since its premiere in 1995, Fire Island Dance Festival (#FIDance) has raised more than $6.9 million to help provide lifesaving medication, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance to those in need in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.
The return of Fire Island Dance Festival is made possible, in part, by the generosity of the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation in memory of Diana King, the 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.
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