Alan Cumming Will Host and Perform at Fire Island Dance Festival

Incomparable Tony and Olivier Award-winning actor and producer Alan Cumming will put his assorted talents to use as host of - and performer at - this year’s Fire Island Dance Festival when it returns July 14-16, 2023, to Fire Island Pines, NY.  The longest-running charitable event of the Pines summer features performances by established and emerging choreographers and companies on a picturesque outdoor stage on the shores of the Great South Bay.  Fire Island Dance Festival is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. 

The festival’s sunset performance on Saturday, July 15, is sold out. Limited tickets remain for the 5 pm performances on Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16. Get tickets at dradance.org/fidance. Tickets also are available between 10 am - 1 pm every Saturday and Sunday in the Pines harbor.

Cumming has accumulated stage and screen credits from Shakespeare to art house, cabaret to blockbusters. He is the author of a New York Times bestselling memoir and co-owns his eponymous cabaret bar, Club Cumming, in New York City’s East Village. He also is a longtime member of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees.  In addition to his hosting duties, Cumming will perform two musical numbers accompanied by Fire Island Dance Festival and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater alumni Michael Francis McBride and Samuel Lee Roberts, with live music by pianist Henry Koperski.

The Fire Island Dance Festival weekend is composed of an opening performance at 5pm on Saturday, July 15, a Leadership Supporter sunset performance at 7pm on Saturday, July 15, and a closing performance at 5pm on Sunday, July 16. An exclusive Leadership Event opens the festival on Friday, July 14.

Those looking for a Fire Island trip without the hassle of planning can delight in the daytrip package. The package features round-trip transportation from New York City or Teaneck, NJ, a champagne luncheon and tickets to the 5 pm performance on Sunday, July 16.   A Sunday VIP option, which includes the champagne luncheon and tickets to the Sunday show without transportation, also is available. The daytrip package is $350; the Sunday VIP option is $275.

This year’s lineup features:

·Dancer and humanitarian Ahmad Joudeh, who fled Syria with the help of the Dutch National Ballet, sharing Layl (Night) an emotionally compelling performance inspired by his experiences as a stateless refugee

·Broadway Bares associate director and choreographer Jonathan Lee, making his Fire Island Dance Festival debut with the world premiere of a number celebrating the history of hip-hop

·Choreographer Paul McGill, debuting a new, ethereal ensemble number set to Claude Debussy’s “Sunken Cathedral” and featuring Martha Graham Dance Company soloist Lorenzo Pagano, former San Francisco Ballet principal Benjamin Freemantle and Broadway’s Gabrielle Hamiton and Jakob Karr

·Choreographer Ray Mercer a veteran of Broadway’s The Lion King, returning to Fire Island Dance Festival with a celebratory contemporary ensemble number

·Philadelphia Ballet Resident Choreographer Juliano Nunes, presenting unconventional pas de deux “Dying Swan” featuring Boston Ballet principal Derek Dunn and Bavarian State Ballet first soloist Shale Wagman

·The return of Parsons Dance, presenting an excerpt of “Whirlaway,” a feel-good ensemble number from choreographer David Parsons featuring the music of New Orleans rhythm and blues artist Allen Toussaint 

·Former dancer with the San Francisco Ballet and choreographer Skyla Schreter, sharing a new duet featuring New York City Ballet soloist Ashley Hod and former Philadelphia Ballet member Craig Wasserman

·Critically acclaimed musician serpentwithfeet performing live, weaving his existing discography with new music in an excerpt from Heart of Brick, an ensemble number created in collaboration with The Joyce Theater. The piece captures the multi-generational spirit of the Black queer community and features genre-defying dance from three-time Princess Grace Award winner and A Strange Loop choreographer Raja Feather Kelly

·Celebrated New York City Ballet principal and Bessie award winner Taylor Stanley, who has been described by The New York Times as "a God for our time," performing an original work by New York City Ballet dancer Alec Knight and set to an electronic composition by Porter Robinson

Performers and host are subject to change.

Leadership Supporters can begin their thrilling weekend experience with Friday night’s Leadership Event at Whyte Hall. The exclusive celebration will include cocktails and a performance by New York City’s Masterz at Work Dance Family, presented in association with Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum. The company, rooted in street and social dance and led by ballroom legend Courtney Washington Balenciaga, will kick off the festival with a fusion of jazz, hip-hop, house, voguing and contemporary dance styles. The Leadership Event is generously supported by Paul Austin and Dalip Girdhar.  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 $375. Individual tickets for the 5 pm performances are $175. Tickets are on sale now at dradance.org/fidance.

Since its debut in 1995, Fire Island Dance Festival has raised more than $7.7 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 lead corporate sponsors The New York Times and United Airlines, the official airline of Broadway Cares, with additional support from 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 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.