Tonight: Virtual Fire Island Dance Festival

What to watch tonight? Check this out 🙂 The charitable event of the Fire Island summer goes digital when the Virtual Fire Island Dance Festival streams an evening of celebrated dance at 7 pm Eastern on July 17, 2020. The first-ever stream in the event’s 26-year history will feature world premieres of three new pieces and three beloved festival favorites. The festival is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Last year’s event – held on July 19-21 – raised a record-shattering $657,842 over three days. The player below will go live as the stream begins, or you can click here to watch directly on YouTube.

This year’s virtual festival will include world premieres by modern tap dancer Ayodele Casel, one of The New York Times’ “Biggest Breakout Stars of 2019”; KEIGWIN + COMPANY Artistic Director Larry Kiegwin; and Stephen Petronio, artistic director of Stephen Petronio Company. The stream also will feature past festival performances by Emmy Award nominee Al Blackstone; MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow Kyle Abraham and acclaimed dancer and choreographer Garrett Smith. “Although we can’t gather together in The Pines, we’re thrilled to be able to invite our community to enjoy world-class dance performances online through the Virtual Fire Island Dance Festival,” said Denise Roberts Hurlin, founding director of Dancers Responding to AIDS. While the stream is free, should you feel ‘moved’ to do so (see what I did there?), any donation large or small is definitely appreciated. You can check out highlights from last year’s event below.