The 39th edition of this annual celebration—formerly known as the Downtown Dance Festival—welcomes artists from across the United States as well as India, Spain, Canada, Gabon, Botswana, Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. This year's event is online only.
Here's the schedule:
Friday, August 14: Black Voices in Dance —
Ervs Works Dance kicks off the Festival with "I-will I-Will I-WILLLLL," investigating the complications of one's relationship to the self by choreographer Will Ervin.
Jamal Jackson Dance Company presents "grEeneR grASsEs" exploring the impact of migration.
Kafago Dance Ensemble, steeped in traditions from West Africa and the Caribbean, presents "CROSSROADS," with the deity Eshu as its guardian.
D presents the Company's work "tenderheaded...," examining the process of rediscovering ourselves.
Saturday, August 15: From India —
Acclaimed Indian dance artists perform ancient rituals, classical dances and contemporary works:
New York-based Bharatanatyam dancer Sophia Salingaros opens the program with a dedication to the God Shiva.
Aditi Mangaldas takes us into an interior monologue while Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan share moments from Samsara.
A haunting melody suffuses a garden in Bijayini Satpathy's version of a classic Odissi work by Kelucharan Mohapatra.
Kuchipudi dancer Sreelakshmy displays the storytelling aspect of the Kuchipudi form in a forest setting.
A Festival commissioned film reveals the painstaking makeup of Theyyam artist Pradeesh Thiruthiya in timelapse as he transforms into the goddess Bhagawati.
Koodiyattam prima donna Kapila Venu personifies the tortoise avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu by lamplight.
Grapple explores darkness and light with three contemporary male dancers.
Sooraj Subramaniam presents a danced miniature against the Ghent skyline.
Director Zoya Akhtar's uproarious Gallan Goodiyaan from the film "Dil Dhadake Do" provides a rousing Bollywood finale.
Sunday, August 16: From the Middle East and Ayman Safiah Memorial Tribute —
Diverse dance-makers from Iraqi Kurdistan, Palestinian Territories, Iran and Lebanon challenge stereotypes and encourage the deepening of trust and mutual understanding through art.
The Dérive, Tanin Torabi moves among the people in an old bazaar in Tehran where dance is prohibited.
A Call for Prayer encourages the making of peace with our own conflicted selves.
Hoedy Saad, a choreographer and voguer from Lebanon performs TBD, a world premiere. Battery Dance remembers the life of Ayman Safiah, a 29-year-old Palestinian dance artist born in Galilee, who tragically died in May.
Monday, August 17: From Europe & Japan —
Future Temple imagines the changing perception of the soul from past to future.
Almost,a story of two echoing universes that aim to align; the air between two bodies resonate with what could have been.
Sisters portrays three sisters growing up in a broken family, revealing their inner world and unbreakable relationship.
In Trans-tánc Budapest, young dancers repeat a sequence inspired by Hungarian folk dances as they traverse the emblematic sites of Budapest.
Drop Out Bodies questions the fatality of the human body and our individual and collective responsibilities in this complex time.
Tuesday, August 18: Celebrating the Centennial of U.S. Women's Right to Vote —
Combative Echoes investigates the role of memory and transient energy in the human experience.
The nearness of you metaphorically depicts four vignettes universally connected through aspects of relationships.
Layla Means Night reveals our insatiable desire to be entertained.
Double Sextet, Kathryn Posin adds a third sextet of dancers to the polyrhythmic interlocking musical network.
Futorian Dance Theatre presents a world premiere suite with the theme of compassion, nurturance, and dedication.
In Hamadryad, a dancer rehearses alone in a studio enchanting herself back into the forest as a wood nymph.
Revolutionary
Quasi Waltz
Wednesday, August 19: From Africa —
Road and Everlast fuses African and Western contemporary movement, ritual and music.
Thina portrays a young South African family as they struggle to maintain harmony.
Twete
Thursday, August 20: From North America —
In XDTO, 22 dancers improvising one-minute solos in an urban glade at the edge of Lake Ontario with the skyscrapers and harbor of Toronto in the background.
In Gratitude, National Ballet of Canada performs on balconies and in homes, yards, woods, gardens and parks.
Cornfield Dance's Portal denotes the passageway from one state to another-agitation into peace and quotidian into sacred.
Imagine, If You Will... is performed by Dancing Wheels, the first professional physically integrated dance company in America, uniting dancers with and without disabilities.
Mexico's Delfos Danza presents Telempathies, a U.S. Broadcast premiere of an experimental work using dance on Zoom.
Friday, August 21: From NYC with Love & Hope —
Plan & Elevation, set to Caroline Shaw's string quartet, imagines an encounter among four individuals on a summer day in a garden.
hi are you like me is an ironic presentation of the finance world and its inhabitants.
No Man is an Island explores the feeling of isolation arising from the virus lockdown of 2020 as four dance artists of color reach out to one another in the cleared streets of NYC.
From the Streets to the Seats features breakdance hitters around the globe from Amsterdam to the NYC subways in a documentary and performance story about hustle, hope & hierarchy.
Naranjo en Flor crafts an abstraction of the tango form, blending ballet and contemporary vocabularies set against a live performance of the most traditional song in the tango canon.