A rustic wooden warehouse on the radiant, foliage-studded banks of the Hudson River transformed into a world-class dance space as Hudson Valley Dance Festival returned October 11, 2025. Two sold-out performances showcased Broadway, ballet, tap and contemporary dance and raised a record-breaking $241,086 for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The festival channels the passion of dancers and audiences into tangible help for those in need. The generosity of festival supporters helps ensure those in the Hudson Valley and across the country living with HIV/AIDS and other debilitating illnesses have access to lifesaving medications, counseling, healthy meals, housing and more. 

Hudson Valley Dance Festival is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Broadway Cares is the largest single financial supporter of the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), ensuring a safety net of services for all in the entertainment industry and performing arts. Through its National Grants Program, Broadway Cares also supports 483 social service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., including 18 life-affirming organizations in the Hudson Valley.

The 12th annual Hudson Valley Dance Festival welcomed audiences to Historic Catskill Point in Catskill, NY, for a vibrant program. This year’s festival featured a world premiere tap piece from Dario Natarelli, seen on Broadway in Illinoise, as well as first previews of two new works from Parsons Dance, set to officially premiere in 2026.

Parsons Dance’s first preview, choreographed by company founder David Parsons, was an angular, high-energy piece set to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Drawing from a vocabulary of classical ballet, modern, hip-hop and contemporary movement, the ensemble of seven dancers bounded across the stage with Parsons’ signature bright, joyous energy – a flurry of exaltant celebration.

The second preview was born from a collaboration sparked on the Hudson Valley Dance Festival stage last year, when choreographer Courtney Balenciaga Washington connected with Parsons Dance. Blending elements of voguing, ballroom, and contemporary dance, the result was a singular fusion of styles. Eight dancers exploded into a fierce sequence of artistic, angular tableaux, channeling the spirit of a catwalk in the heart of Catskill.

Leggybones Physical Theater sharing Nocturne, an acrobatic, high-octane duet performed and choreographed by company founders Casey Howes and Jake Warren. Howes defied gravity as Warren effortlessly suspended her midair by her waistband. The dynamic push and pull between the pair – paired with their athletic physicality and gravity-defying lifts – served as a delightfully comedic counterpoint to the stoic Chopin score.

The Verdon Fosse Legacy reviving the iconic duet Who’s Got the Pain? from Broadway’s Damn Yankees, a flirtatious, athletic mambo choreographed by Bob Fosse and famously performed by Fosse and Gwen Verdon in the 1958 film adaptation. Broadway’s Tony d’Alelio and Mattie Love brought Fosse’s signature isolations and the number’s vaudevillian humor to life with sharp precision and live vocals.

Emerging star Kayla Mak showcasing her remarkable flexibility and commanding stage presence in Human, choreographed by Yannick Lebrun and presented by American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. In this introspective work exploring what it means to be human, Mak moved through a series of fluid, expressive motions that balanced humility and strength, sensitivity and athleticism.

Broadway performer and choreographer Reed Luplau presenting A Single Man, an intimate work exploring the heartbreak of loss alongside an ever-present glimmer of hope. The piece, featuring five dancers moving fluidly in and out of poetic synchronicity, premiered this summer at Dancers Responding to AIDS’ Fire Island Dance Festival.

Inspired by the entwined nature of its namesake plant, the mandrake, New Chamber Ballet delivering Mandragore, choreographed by the company’s founder, Miro Magloire. The duet – performed with expert balance and precision by Nicole McGinnis and Amber Neff – featured a series of elegant, gravity-defying lifts as the dancers explored the intersection of power and intimacy.

Broadway’s Dario Natarelli showcasing his virtuosic tap dancing in the world premiere of Feelin’ Good. Set to the jazzy, dulcet tones of Sammy Davis Jr., Natarelli seemed to defy the bounds of human movement with his fast-paced footwork and exuberant energy, honoring the joyful and soulful traditions of the form.

Jon Lehrer Dance Company presenting one of the company’s signature repertory works, Solstice, choreographed by artistic director Jon Lehrer. An ensemble of seven dancers captured the energy, vitality and celebration of summer, seamlessly moving through elegant duets, joyful trios and quartets and rapturous group moments in a series of leaps, lifts and turns.

Inspired by the generosity of the festival’s supporters and artistry of the dancers and choreographers, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will provide additional grants of $2,500 to each of the 18 local organizations supported by the Hudson Valley Dance Festival.

The 18 Hudson Valley organizations are: Albany Damien Center in Albany; Alliance for Positive Health in Albany; Animalkind in Hudson; Broadway Education Alliance in Rhinebeck; Catskill Food Pantry in Catskill; Columbia County Recovery Kitchen in Hudson; Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA in Hudson; The Community Hospice in Albany; Do Not Fear to Hope in Garrison; Dutchess Outreach in Poughkeepsie; Greenport Rescue Squad in Hudson; Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston; Matthew 25 Food Pantry in Catskill; Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining; 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 began in 2013 as a single performance at Historic Catskill Point. It has since grown into a beloved annual dance experience for Hudson Valley residents and visitors, raising $1.75 million through 12 iterations.

Hudson Valley Dance Festival is made possible, in part, by generous support from corporate sponsor The New York Times. 

Photos by Owen Burnham and Michael Hull
Video by Bardo Arts, Josh Drake and Víctor Rodríguez; edited by Josh Drake

This year’s program