Fire Island Dance Festival
July 19-21
Fire Island Pines, Fire Island, NY

Breathtaking dance set upon a backdrop of endless sky and sea returns when Fire Island Dance Festival, the charitable event of the Fire Island summer, makes its anticipated homecoming July 19-21.

The three-performance celebration of established and emerging dance companies will again bring together the Fire Island Pines community to an awe-inspiring waterfront stage overlooking the Great South Bay. Fire Island Dance Festival (#fidance) is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Fire Island Dance Festival begins with an opening performance at 5 pm on Saturday, July 20, followed by a Leadership Supporter sunset performance at 7 pm, and a closing performance at 5 pm on Sunday, July 21.

Beginning May 25, tickets are also available in person on weekends from 10 am-1 pm in the Fire Island Pines harbor.

Among the first performers set for year’s festival are:

• 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,” 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.
• 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 Chalvar Monteiro. The work is presented in collaboration with Asbury Park Dance Festival, which is set for August 24.
• 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.
• 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.
• A world premiere piece from acclaimed contemporary choreographer Akira Uchida, who made his festival debut in 2022 with the vibrant And On…

This year’s festival will be hosted by Beth Leavel, whose illustrious Broadway career spans 13 shows. She won the Tony Award for her celebrated turn as Beatrice Stockwell in 2006’s Drowsy Chaperone, and has been taking 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.

Performers are subject to change.

Leadership Supporters elevate their festival experience with a kickoff performance and intimate evening cocktails on Friday, July 19. Coveted kickoff performance tickets are extremely limited. Leadership Supporters also enjoy their choice of the highly anticipated 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.

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. Get day trip tickets.

If you can’t attend but would like to support Fire Island Dance Festival, donate now.

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.

Watch highlights from the 2023 Fire Island Dance Festival

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