Alan Cumming to host the 2023 Fire Island Dance Festival

The Fire Island Dance Festival weekend starts with an opening performance at 5pm on Saturday 15 July 2023, a Leadership Supporter sunset performance at 7pm on the same day, and a closing performance at 5pm on Sunday 16 July.

Since its debut in 1995, Fire Island Dance Festival – organised by Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – has raised more than $7.7 million to help provide lifesaving medication, counselling and emergency financial assistance to those in need in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.

The festival's sunset performance is sold out, but there is limited availability for the 5pm performances on 15 and 16 July.

Tony and Olivier Award-winning actor Alan Cumming will act as host and perform at this year's Festival with performances by established and emerging choreographers and companies on the picturesque outdoor stage on the shores of the Great South Bay.  Fire Island Dance Festival is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Cumming will perform two musical numbers accompanied by Fire Island Dance Festival and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater alumni Michael Francis McBride and Samuel Lee Roberts, with live music by pianist Henry Koperski.

This year's lineup features:

• Dancer and humanitarian Ahmad Joudeh, who fled Syria with the help of the Dutch National Ballet, sharing Layl (Night) an emotionally compelling performance inspired by his experiences as a stateless refugee

• Broadway Bares associate director and choreographer Jonathan Lee, making his Fire Island Dance Festival debut with the world premiere of a number celebrating the history of hip-hop

• Choreographer Paul McGill, debuting a new, ethereal ensemble number set to Claude Debussy's “Sunken Cathedral” and featuring Martha Graham Dance Company soloist Lorenzo Pagano, former San Francisco Ballet principal Benjamin Freemantle and Broadway's Gabrielle Hamiton and Jakob Karr

• Choreographer Ray Mercer a veteran of Broadway's The Lion King, returning to Fire Island Dance Festival with a celebratory contemporary ensemble number

• Philadelphia Ballet Resident Choreographer Juliano Nunes, presenting unconventional pas de deux “Dying Swan” featuring Boston Ballet principal Derek Dunn and Bavarian State Ballet first soloist Shale Wagman

• The return of Parsons Dance, presenting an excerpt of “Whirlaway,” a feel-good ensemble number from choreographer David Parsons featuring the music of New Orleans rhythm and blues artist Allen Toussaint

• Former dancer with the San Francisco Ballet and choreographer Skyla Schreter, sharing a new duet featuring New York City Ballet soloist Ashley Hod and former Philadelphia Ballet member Craig Wasserman

• Critically acclaimed musician serpentwithfeet performing live, weaving his existing discography with new music in an excerpt from Heart of Brick, an ensemble number created in collaboration with The Joyce Theater. The piece captures the multi-generational spirit of the Black queer community and features genre-defying dance from three-time Princess Grace Award winner and A Strange Loop choreographer Raja Feather Kelly

• Celebrated New York City Ballet principal and Bessie award winner Taylor Stanley, who has been described by The New York Times as “a God for our time,” performing an original work by New York City Ballet dancer Alec Knight and set to an electronic composition by Porter Robinson

Those looking for a Fire Island trip without the hassle of planning can delight in the day trip package. The package features round-trip transportation from New York City or Teaneck, NJ, a champagne luncheon and tickets to the 5 pm performance on Sunday, July 16.   A Sunday VIP option, which includes the champagne luncheon and tickets to the Sunday show without transportation, also is available. The day trip package is $350; the Sunday VIP option is $275.

For more information, please visit Dancers Responding to AIDS at dradance.org, at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.