Queensboro Dance Festival 2021
Saturday January 20, 2021 11:00 AM : Free, festival info meetup on Zoom, RSVP required. All Queens dancers welcome! Call for proposals opens in February; check out the Dancers page for more info!
Thank you for an amazing season amidst the most challenging of times
Now on IGTV: Detox Dance Classes
Originally Live during Thanksgiving weekend, catch up or take a wide variety of classes again from our Queens dancers, including West African rhythms, Nutcracker barre, Christmas jive, and holiday hip-hop!
Now on YouTube: Holiday Dances Around the World's Boro
Feel the holiday spirit all season long with 8 special dance presentations and classes, each featuring a different Queens-based dance company and how dance is celebrated in their culture during the holidays. Now available on our YouTube channel!
Dance cultures represented during this 2020 season included Hula, Tap, Modern, Bellydance, Hip-Hop, Flamenco, West African, Cumbia, Kathak, Street Jazz, Greek, Ballroom, and Chinese. Many of the danceworks premiering have been created, inspired by, or rehearsed virtually in quarantine.
2019: Our pre-COVID season
"Lincoln Center, City Center quality dances, the performers were excellent...I've never been here, I'm glad this was the thing that I saw for the very first time..." ~ Audience member
What is the Queensboro Dance Festival?
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Free Dance Performances & Classes
From May to October every year, the Queensboro Dance Festival is a tour featuring Queens-based dance companies of diverse cultures & styles. We tour various indoor & outdoor venues throughout Queens neighborhoods, offering free performances, dance classes, and other unique ways to connect Queens audiences to local dance.
The Queensboro Dance Festival also serves as a Queens career resource for dancers by providing access to free rehearsal space, dance classes, workshops, teaching opportunities, professional development workshops, and artist meetups.
Our mission is to strengthen the dance community in Queens, and garner a greater appreciation for Queens dance.
Our Milestones
What started in 2014 as a 4-night production in a local theater, the Queensboro Dance Festival reached its vision in our 5th anniversary season in 2018, launching as a full performance tour across Queens theaters, parks, plazas, and libraries, reaching over 20 neighborhoods. Beginning that season as a Queens Pride Honoree for our community work, 2018 boasted 26 diverse dance companies from Queens, 31 performances and classes, and 21 dance work premieres. We also hosted international group the Inner Mongolia Performance Arts Troupe as their NYC debut right here in Queens.
We continued to grow in our 2019 season, and closed the year as the inaugural recipient of TFC Best of Arts & Humanities Award.
Now after a semi-virtual 2020 season, we come together again as a community of artists to navigate the COVID challenges. We are committed to being here for our dancers and our public. Join us on our virtual tour to interact with our Queens dance companies this year. Full summer schedule announced in Spring 2021!
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Neighborhood Community Engagement
Every show on tour is a different line-up of Queens companies of all cultures and styles, featuring various audience activities including Question & Answer sessions with the dancers, dance games, and our QDF Dancebacks, where audience members get to take a mini dance lesson with our companies. Be sure to follow us, subscribe, and check back here for announcements!
Photo credits: Josef Pinlac, Noel Valero, Reiko Yanagi, QDF staff
Press
Click for news coverage
see our first 2014 article here
