Dancers Responding To AIDS Announces Initial Lineup For Hudson Valley Dance Festival

An expansive range of dance styles including contemporary, African and jazz will be featured in one captivating program at this year's Hudson Valley Dance Festival on Saturday, October 12, 2019. This diverse, enchanting program in Catskill, NY, is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Many of this year's performers have collaborated with celebrated arts organizations within the Hudson Valley. This year's lineup is set to include:

Acclaimed all-male repertory company 10 Hairy Legs presenting an excerpt from Cruise Control by Larry Keigwin, the award-winning artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY. 10 Hairy Legs was featured this year at a sneak peek event for Hudson Valley Dance Festival supporters at Catskill's LUMBERYARD Center for Film and Performing Arts.

Joshua Beamish, the award-winning founder of MOVETHECOMPANY, one of Canada's most respected arts organizations, presenting a work showcasing his bright, original style.

Dance Lab New York, which will hold a creative retreat this fall at the Petronio Residency Center in nearby Round Top, NY, in Greene County, presenting original dances set to a series of Broadway overtures. The festival piece will be choreographed by artistic director Josh Prince (Beautiful - The Carole King Musical).

Gallim Dance sharing a piece by groundbreaking choreographer Andrea Miller, who was named the 2017-2018 artist in residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Les Ballet Afrik sharing an excerpt of a work-in-progress by Omari Mizrahi, a choreographer and dancer who seamlessly blends African dance, voguing and house. The company has a 2019-2020 residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park for Dance in neighboring Dutchess County and will premiere the full piece as part of the Guggenheim's Works & Process series.

Former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancers Michael Francis McBride and Samuel Roberts reviving Broadway choreographer James Kinney's Birth of the Blues, which premiered at the 2018 edition of Fire Island Dance Festival.

RIOULT Dance NY sharing a piece from its repertoire choreographed by Pascal Rioult, who, prior to founding the company, was a principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company.

Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks. Program subject to change.

Hudson Valley Dance Festival (#hvdance) features shows at 2 pm and at 5 pm. Set amid upstate New York's picturesque fall foliage in a park overlooking the Hudson River, the festival will again transform a restored 19th century warehouse into a modern dance venue at Historic Catskill Point.

Tickets start at $40 and are on sale now at dradance.org or by calling 212.840.0770, ext. 229. Sponsorship opportunities start at $275. VIP tickets include a cocktail reception at Historic Catskill Point and a locally sourced dinner with the dancers.

A special daytrip package from New York City offers luxury round-trip bus transportation, a guided tour of Olana State Historic Site, a champagne luncheon, a ticket to the 2 pm performance and a complimentary cocktail reception after the show. Olana is an historic estate and former home to Frederic Edwin Church, one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting.

Over the event's six years, Hudson Valley Dance Festival has raised $764,724. The support helps Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS provide grants to AIDS and family service organizations nationwide, including 13 based in the Hudson Valley: Albany Damien Center and Alliance for Positive Health in Albany, Animalkind, Columbia-Greene Community Foundation and Hudson Valley SPCA in Hudson, Matthew 25 Food Pantry and Community Hospice in Catskill, Hudson Valley Community Services in Hawthorne, Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston, Rock Steady Farm in Millerton, Roe Jan Food Pantry in Hillsdale, TOUCH (Together Our Unity Can Heal) in Congers and Troy Area United Ministries in Troy.

Hudson Valley Dance Festival is sponsored by The New York Times.

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 Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative and The Dancers' Resource, as well as more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit Dancers Responding to AIDS at dradance.org, at facebook.com/DRAdance, at instagram.com/DRAdance, at twitter.com/DRAdance and at youtube.com/DRAdance.