Festivities include workshops, week of free performances
BY LILY BOUVIER | For the 30th anniversary of its renowned (and free!) “Downtown Dance Festival,” Battery Dance Company will be celebrating alongside prestigious dance troupes from across the globe (including Silesian Dance Theatre of Poland and Sutra Dance Theatre of Malaysia; visit stt.art.pl and sutrafoundation.org).
Battery Dance Company has a 35-year history in Lower Manhattan. Established in 1982, its “Downtown Dance Festival” is now the longest running free public dance festival in the city. The company’s strong commitment to making the arts available to all extends throughout all of the city’s five boroughs, with its arts-in-education programs in New York City public schools. Battery Dance Company will appear in the festival program, too. Its own performances are characterized by choreography and music inspired by worldwide sources, reflecting the myriad of cultures that are part of American society.
Local favorites will also be featured. BALAM Dance Theatre fuses Balinese theatre with movement and dance from cultures around the world (balamdance.org). Ballets With A Twist brings a cocktail-bar menu to life with their assemblés, chassés and relevés (balletswithatwist.com). Dancewave showcases teenagers ages 12-18, selected by audition from all over the city (dancewave.org). With traditional and contemporary dance and music, Jamal Jackson Dance Company explores the history, evolution and connection between the African and American cultures (jamaljacksondancecompany.org). Lydia Johnson Dance presents a graceful integration of ballet and contemporary dance (lydiajohnsondance.org) — and Murray Spalding’s Mandalas (edition XIII, in honor of the choreographer recently passed) makes its final appearance, translating pedestrian movement — folk and tribal dance, meditation, yoga — into the language of contemporary dance (murrayspalding.org).
A full day of the festival will feature performances curated by the Indo-American Arts Council (as part of the fourth annual “Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance”). Master classes and workshops will be taught by Lar Lubovitch, dancers from Martha Graham Dance Company and others — held at the Battery Dance Company studios (380 Broadway, 5th Fl., btw. Walker & White Sts.) and offered at a low cost.
DOWNTOWN DANCE FESTIVAL
August 13-20
At the Lawn at Battery Park (at State & Pearl Sts.), at One New York Plaza (at Water &Whitehall Sts.) and at Dance New Amsterdam (280 Broadway, 2nd Fl., entrance on Chambers St.)
For a full schedule of the events, visit
at batterydanceco.com
