Limited Tickets Remain for FIRE ISLAND DANCE FESTIVAL

Enjoy world-class dance set upon a blissful waterfront stage at this year's Fire Island Dance Festival,July 19-21, 2024, to Fire Island Pines, NY, with celebrated dancers and choreographers and a staggering seven world premiere performances on the shores of the Great South Bay.

The annual weekend featuring legacy and cutting-edge dance is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The performances will provide meals and medication, health care and hope for those in need throughout New York and across the country. Tickets for the festival are on sale at dradance.org/fidance.

Tickets are also available 10 am-1 pm every Saturday and Sunday in the Pines harbor. Best availability is at the 5 pm Saturday performance. The Fire Island Dance Festival weekend is composed of an opening performance at 5 pm on Saturday, July 20, a Leadership Supporter sunset performance at 7 pm on Saturday, July 20 (which is now sold out), and a closing performance at 5 pm on Sunday, July 21. An exclusive Leadership Event, which also is now sold out, opens the festival on Friday, July 19.The lineup includes:·       

Gilbert Bolden III, a celebrated soloist with New York City Ballet, sharing his world premiere featuring dancers from the company. Dance Magazine lauded Bolden's work for using dance “to highlight the importance of human connectivity.”

The piece will be performed by Bolden, India Bradley, Jules Mabie and the lauded Mira Nadon, who became the first Asian American principal dancer in New York City Ballet history in 2023.

Broadway performer and celebrated choreographer Billy Griffin making his Fire Island Dance Festival return with “Get Happy,” an intimate look at his coming out journey performed by Wicked's Aydin Eyikan.

American Ballet Theatre principal and festival favorite Catherine Hurlin sharing The Dying Swan, a work that has been performed by some of the world's most legendary ballerinas for more than a century.

A world premiere from buzzworthy choreographer Keerati Jinakunwiphat, who in 2023 gained the groundbreaking distinction of being the first Asian American woman to be commissioned to choreograph for New York City Ballet. The work is presented in collaboration with Asbury Park Dance Festival, which is set for August 24.

One of modern dance's most iconic and beloved companies, Paul Taylor Dance Company, sharing an excerpt from resident choreographer Lauren Lovette's playful and vulnerable all-male work Echo.·       

Contemporary choreographer Pontus Lidberg presenting a duet featuring two men dancing with a shared glass of water, revealing the trust, vulnerability and playfulness that underpin their connection. The piece will be performed by Lidberg and lauded Kurdish dancer and choreographer Hussein Smko.

THE MNTRO PRJCT, led by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Chalvar Monteiro, sharing a world premiere piece, which will be performed by acclaimed Ailey dancers Patrick Coker, Shawn Cusseaux, Ashley Green, Jacquelin Harris and Hannah Richardson.

Ingrid Silva, co-founder of Blacks in Ballet - a popular online platform and educational resource for Black classical dancers around the world, sharing a world premiere quartet performed by Jonathan Batista, a principal at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Nayara Lopes, a principal at Philadelphia Ballet and Dylan Santos and Amanda Smith.

A world premiere piece from acclaimed contemporary choreographer Akira Uchida, who made his festival debut in 2022 with the vibrant And On… 

Performers are subject to change.

This year's festival will be hosted by Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, whose illustrious Broadway career spans 13 shows. She won the Tony for her celebrated turn as the title character in 2006's The Drowsy Chaperone, and has taken center stage as legendary leading ladies in Baby It's You!, Bandstand, Mamma Mia!, The Prom and more. She most recently starred in this season's Lempicka.

Leadership Supporters begin their thrilling weekend experience with Friday night's Leadership Event at Whyte Hall, which is now sold out.

The exclusive celebration will include cocktails and a performance by lauded choreographer Caleb Teicher.Teicher will share an excerpt of A Very Sw!ng Out Holiday, the latest edition of their big-band-swing-dance show celebrating the present-day Lindy Hop community. 

Leadership Supporters also enjoy priority seating at either 5 pm performance, as well as recognition on printed materials in the harbor and throughout the Pines. Individual tickets for the 5 pm performances are $195. Tickets are on sale now at dradance.org/fidance.

Since its debut in 1995, Fire Island Dance Festival has raised more than $8.4 million to support the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) and 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.Fire Island Dance Festival is generously supported by corporate sponsors The New York Times and United, the official airline of Broadway Cares, with additional support from the P. Austin Family Foundation and The Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation in memory of Diana King.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 Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, 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.