Further Lineup Revealed For Fire Island Dance Festival

A balletic solo that has been enchanting audiences for decades, a jazz-infused solo featuring a rising Broadway dancer and world premieres from two innovative contemporary choreographers are among the pieces just added to this year’s Fire Island Dance Festival lineup.  Fire Island Dance Festival returns July 19-21, 2024, to Fire Island Pines, NY, with diverse and captivating performances set upon a breathtaking waterfront stage on the shores of the Great South Bay.

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 on sale at dradance.org/fidance. Tickets are also available between 10 am - 1 pm every Saturday and Sunday in the Pines harbor.

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 opens the festival on Friday, July 19.

Joining the lineup are:

- Broadway performer and celebrated choreographer Billy Griffin making his Fire Island Dance Festival return with “Get Happy,” performed by Wicked’s Aydin Eyikan

- American Ballet Theater 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

- 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.

- 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

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

They join the previously announced:  

- 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

- 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. Among the performers is Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Monteiro. 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

- 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

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 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, their big-band-swing-dance show celebrating the present-day Lindy Hop community.  Leadership Supporters also enjoy highly coveted tickets to the sunset performance on Saturday or priority seating at either 5 pm performance, as well as recognition on printed materials in the harbor and throughout the Pines.  Leadership tickets start at $395. Individual tickets for the 5 pm performances are $195. Tickets are on sale now at dradance.org/fidance.

Take the hustle and hassle out of your Fire Island escape with our day trip package, featuring round-trip transportation from New York City, a champagne luncheon and tickets to the 5 pm performance on Sunday, July 21. A Sunday VIP option, which includes the champagne luncheon and tickets to the Sunday show without transportation, also is available. The day trip package is $350; the Sunday VIP option is $275.

Since its debut in 1995, Fire Island Dance Festival has raised more than $8.4 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.  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, at facebook.com/DRAdance, at instagram.com/DRAdance and at youtube.com/DRAdance.

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