The area’s dance card remains strong despite the closures that impacted the art form’s local outlets in 2020. Sashaying into your summer are these reinvigorated festivals and performances.
Jacob’s Pillow (through August 29)
Rising from the ashes of the fire that destroyed its Doris Duke Theatre, the Beckett, Massachusetts dance center has in-person events by Dorrance Dance (June 30-July 4), Ballet Hispanico (July 14-18), Brian Brooks/Moving Company (July 21-25), Archie Burnett (July 28-August 1), Dallas Black Dance Theatre (August 4-8), Streb (August 18-22), and others. Jacobspillow.org
Hudson Valley Flamenco Festival (August 14-15)
Copresented by the Vanaver Caravan, this fiery flamenco fiesta encompasses “Flamenco for Everyone” at Safe Harbors in Newburgh (August 14 at 11:30am); “Andreas Arnold: An Evening of Flamenco Guitar” at Unison Arts in New Paltz (August 14 at 6pm); and “Flamencos in the Wild” at Whitecliff Vineyard in Gardiner (August 15 at 6pm). Hvflamencofestival.com
Bridge Street Theatre (through July 2)
Catskill’s Bridge Street Theatre has been keeping things in the air with its Spring Dance Residencies series, each installment of which is preserved via video on the theater’s YouTube channel. Finishing the series out are Ephrat Asherie Dance (through June 2) and TRIBE (June 14-July 2). Bridgest.org
Paul Taylor Dance Company at PS21 (July 2-3 and August 7)
In Chatham, PS21’s state-of-the-art open-air performance pavilion located on 100 acres of meadows and orchards, makes for a sublime spot to take in dance recitals and the other arts events that occur there. The Paul Taylor Dance Company is in a residency capped with three performances. Ps21chatham.org
The Mount (June 30-July 2)
“Silence,” Edith Wharton wrote, “may be as variously shaded as speech.” Dance, meanwhile, can be a good deal more nuanced than words. How apt, then, that the dancer/choreographer Ian Spencer Bell has created a site-specific work, Banderole, at the Mount, the gorgeous country house Wharton designed and had built in 1902. Though the interior is fascinating, outside is where the magic of this place really lies. Bell and dancers Vanessa Knouse and Joshua Tuason will perform on the estate’s grounds as the audience strolls from the stables to the mansion’s forecourt and gardens. Edithwharton.org
This article appears in June 2021.
