Free dance performances are back in Battery Park City next month
The Battery Dance Festival is a chance for New Yorkers to experience the best of the international dance world right on their turf, for free.
Located near Manhattan's southern tip, the park was closed for a two-year pause in a coastal resiliency effort to protect lower Manhattan from storm surges and sea level rise. On August 9, the Battery Dance company will celebrate its reopening with a one-hour program featuring Indigenous performer Marie Poncé and tap-dancer John Manzari, accompanied by a live band. The company will then present the Turkish-Dutch choreographer Rutkay Özpinar's Frontiers, with Limón Dance Company capping the evening with the 1964 classic, A Choreographic Offering.
Typically bringing together over 12,000 attendees (plus some 35,000 virtual ones), the festival proper will then run from Tuesday August 12 to Saturday, August 16 on Rockefeller Park, a bit further up the city's west side. Eight New York companies will present a plethora of works, classic and new, alongside eight international companies hailing from Bangladesh, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan.
Here is the full Battery Dance Festival 2025 schedule:
Tuesday, August 12: John Manzari & Band, excerpts of Recenter (USA); Pace University Dancing to Connect conducted by Robin Cantrell (USA); Battery Dance, Sense of Belonging, a world premiere by Faizah Grootens (USA); Faizah Grootens, While You're Here (Netherlands), Bulareyaung Dance Company, Colors (Taiwan)
Wednesday, August 13: UNARTE, Verso Roto (Spain -World Premiere); Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, Eden (South Korea/Germany); Bulareyaung Dance Company, Colors (Taiwan); Faizah Grootens While You're Here (Netherlands), Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas (Romania - U.S. Premiere)
Thursday, August 14: Kar-mel Small, La Manta de Reina (USA); Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, Eden (South Korea/Germany); Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas (Romania - U.S. Premiere); UNARTE, Verso Roto (Spain -World Premiere); Buglisi Dance Theatre, Sospiri (USA), Battery Dance, Empty Hand by Damani Pompey (USA - World Premiere)
Friday, August 15: India Day- Dances of Kerala, presenting dancers and musicians from five different dance, theater and martial arts traditions from the Southwestern Indian State of Kerala: Kalaripayattu, Kutiyattam, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and Theyyam.
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Free dance performances are back in Battery Park City next month
Battery Dance Festival, the city's longest-running free public dance festival, will next month begin its 44th edition with the re-opening of the Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park on Saturday, August 9. The following week will bring five nights of dynamic premieres and performances from 16 local and international companies, all set against the spectacular New York skyline. The Battery Dance Festival is a chance for New Yorkers to experience the best of the international dance world right on their turf, for free. Located near Manhattan's southern tip, the park was closed for a two-year pause in a coastal resiliency effort to protect lower Manhattan from storm surges and sea level rise. On August 9, the Battery Dance company will celebrate its reopening with a one-hour program featuring Indigenous performer Marie Poncé and tap-dancer John Manzari, accompanied by a live band. The company will then present the Turkish-Dutch choreographer Rutkay Özpinar's Frontiers, with Limón Dance Company capping the evening with the 1964 classic, A Choreographic Offering. Typically bringing together over 12,000 attendees (plus some 35,000 virtual ones), the festival proper will then run from Tuesday August 12 to Saturday, August 16 on Rockefeller Park, a bit further up the city's west side. Eight New York companies will present a plethora of works, classic and new, alongside eight international companies hailing from Bangladesh, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan. Here is the full Battery Dance Festival 2025 schedule: Tuesday, August 12: John Manzari & Band, excerpts of Recenter (USA); Pace University Dancing to Connect conducted by Robin Cantrell (USA); Battery Dance, Sense of Belonging, a world premiere by Faizah Grootens (USA); Faizah Grootens, While You're Here (Netherlands), Bulareyaung Dance Company, Colors (Taiwan) Wednesday, August 13: UNARTE, Verso Roto (Spain -World Premiere); Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, Eden (South Korea/Germany); Bulareyaung Dance Company, Colors (Taiwan); Faizah Grootens While You're Here (Netherlands), Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas (Romania - U.S. Premiere) Thursday, August 14: Kar-mel Small, La Manta de Reina (USA); Theater Plauen - Zwickau Ballet Ensemble, Eden (South Korea/Germany); Platforma 13, Balkan Ballerinas (Romania - U.S. Premiere); UNARTE, Verso Roto (Spain -World Premiere); Buglisi Dance Theatre, Sospiri (USA), Battery Dance, Empty Hand by Damani Pompey (USA - World Premiere) Friday, August 15: India Day- Dances of Kerala, presenting dancers and musicians from five different dance, theater and martial arts traditions from the Southwestern Indian State of Kerala: Kalaripayattu, Kutiyattam, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and Theyyam.
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