Mark your calendars for 7:00 PM Thursday, June 6 and Friday, June 7. The Hudson River Dance Festival has become a true HRPK highlight—and this year it kicks off a spectacular Summer of Fun.
Bringing dance companies of the highest caliber to Pier 63, this family-friendly festival is free for all to enjoy, a unique opportunity to experience powerful arrangements of music and movement against a distinctively vibrant backdrop: the Hudson River at sunset.
Presented by the SHS Foundation in partnership with The Joyce Theater, this year’s festival features a dynamic and diverse lineup of performers—once again bringing culturally relevant, evocative pieces by acclaimed, visionary performers to your west side backyard.
Dormeshia kicks off each night’s vibrant program. A two-time Bessie Award, Princess Grace Statue Award and Astaire Award winner for Best Female Performer in Broadway’s After Midnight, Dormeshia will perform an improvisational exploration inspired by ‘Rhythm Migration’ from her evening length work, And Still You Must Swing, focusing on the authentic connection between African rhythms and Tap dance.
Performing second, Taylor 2 brings Aureole to the Hudson River Dance Festival Stage. Paul Taylor established Taylor 2 in 1993 to ensure that his works could be seen worldwide, unhindered by economic or technical limitations. Aureole was, according to the New York Post, “perhaps [Paul Taylor’s] first major success…the first time Taylor combined his loping antelope style of movement with baroque music, and its grace and individuality instantly spun into orbit throughout the world of dance.”
Next to take the stage, Doug Elkins Choreography, performs O, round desire, inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. Doug Elkins is a 2012 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow and two-time New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award-winning choreographer. He started dancing professionally as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups New York Dance Express and Magnificent Force, among others, before founding his own company in 1988. His repertory of over 40 dances also includes commissions from Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, CanDoCo (UK), Groundworks Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet and a number of university dance ensembles.
Ballet Hispánico will follow, performing Sombrerísimo. Inspired by the surrealist world of Belgian painter René Magritte, famous for his paintings of men in bowler hats, Sombrerísimo references the iconic hats found throughout the world that help to represent culture. Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latino dance organization, has been bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance for nearly 50 years.
Concluding our dance festival lineup, Camille A. Brown & Dancers perform New Second Line. Inspired by the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, this work is a celebration of the spirit and culture of the people of New Orleans. Founded in 2006, Camille A. Brown & Dancers is a Bessie Award-winning, NYC-based dance company that soars through history like a whirlwind. Recognized for an introspective approach to cultural themes through visceral movement and socio-political dialogues, the work contains high theatricality, gutsy moves and virtuosic musicality, connecting excavations of ancestral stories and history with contemporary culture.
We’re thrilled to bring such an acclaimed, diverse and powerful lineup to you as we kick off a fantastic season of cultural events. The stage is set for two spectacular nights—we can’t wait to see you at the Hudson River Dance Festival!