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Hudson Valley Dance Festival
Cultivates, Nurtures and Shares Dance in the Heart of the Hudson Valley
This year marks the 11th anniversary of Hudson Valley Dance Festival, as world-class dancers and choreographers again converge on the bucolic banks of the Hudson River to share celebrated works and make a difference. Artistic expression has been in the DNA of the Hudson Valley region since its earliest days.
“The Hudson Valley has always been a hotbed for artists,” Greene County resident Duke Dang said. “America’s first art movement, the Hudson River School, started just a walk from Historic Catskill Point, where the festival takes place. And it’s rooted in the river that connects us all. It’s part of a very rich ecosystem that supports life, supports art making and through the watershed connects us to New York City.” through Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ National Grants Program. Dancers Responding to AIDS is a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The vibrant heritage of the region inspired Dang, alongside his husband, Charles Rosen, and their Catskill neighbor Todd Whitley to propose the festival over a decade ago. They reached out to Dancers Responding to AIDS Founding Director Denise Roberts Hurlin with the dream of sharing premier dance in their Hudson Valley home while simultaneously helping their neighbors in need, and the event was born.
Proceeds from the festival, set for performances at 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Sunday, October 13, will provide meals, medication, counseling, health care and hope through annual grants to 13 vital organizations here in the Hudson Valley and 450 more throughout all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.
“This community, from its spectacular performers and choreographers to its generous and welcoming audiences, has given so much to us,” Hurlin said. “The awe-inspiring landscape, including the converted 19th century warehouse that serves as the festival’s venue, continues to inspire us to create and share art. It’s our privilege to give back to the region through these vital grants.”
In addition to providing a helping hand and supportive shoulder to those in the community and beyond, at the core of the festival’s vision is nurturing artists across the region. Dang, who is executive director of Works & Process at the Guggenheim, is continuing that legacy this year by offering a Hudson Valleybased residency to acclaimed company Masterz at Work.
The New York City-based company’s new work, created at Modern Accord Depot in Ulster County, will be shared at Hudson Valley Dance Festival. Dang believes the tranquility of the Hudson Valley plays a key role in the singular creative expression presented at the festival.
“If a tree is bearing fruit, you want to share it with your neighbors, and that’s what I do professionally with these residences,” Dang said. “In New York City, there is a hyper-connectedness where things happen really, really fast. You book studio space, you have three hours, you create something. Whereas in the Hudson Valley, artists are provided a respite. To leave the city and spend a week in isolation, in flow state, is a different kind of creative process.”
The introduction of Masterz at Work to Hudson Valley Dance Festival is a full-circle moment. Dang and Works & Process first commissioned a work from acclaimed vogue and West African dancer Omari Wiles in 2018. In 2019, Wiles was invited to share a work at Hudson Valley Dance Festival. Dang asked Wiles who in the ballroom community could use institutional support, and Wiles recommended Courtney Topanga Washington and her company, Masterz at Work.
Powered by Works & Process’ support, the Masterz have presented works at the Guggenheim, Jacob’s Pillow, Fire Island Dance Festival and, now, Hudson Valley Dance Festival.
“What’s important to us is longitudinal, long-term support of artists,” Dang said. “This will be our third commission from Courtney and the Masterz. The piece will officially premiere in 2025, and what’s shared at the festival will be an exciting peek at a work-in-progress. It’s all so fresh—they wrap up their residency and the next day they’re at Hudson Valley Dance Festival.”
And that organic, studio-to-stage feeling is what makes the weekend so unique for the event’s dance-loving attendees. Dang shares that one of the elements that makes Hudson Valley Dance Festival unique compared to similar cultural institutions and events in the area is the ephemeral nature of the festival.
“The magic of Hudson Valley Dance Festival is that it happens just one weekend out of the year, and it’s built in the space for that moment,” Dang said. “There’s a universality to that, to a show created in an ice warehouse on the banks of the Hudson River, with the magic of fall foliage at that time of year. There’s variety, there’s something for everyone.”
Masterz at Work’s piece, alongside a diverse program of other spectacular works, will create a tangible impact in the Hudson Valley and beyond. Through the festival’s 10 iterations so far, its audiences have raised $1.3 million.
“We’re honored to channel the artistic beauty and talent that permeates this vibrant community into tangible, lifesaving help,” Hurlin said. “And this vital support will ripple to organizations in the Hudson Valley and across the country, all thanks to these visionary performing artists and the audiences who support and believe in them.”
Dang said there’s a culture of philanthropy that permeates throughout the region.
“What’s at this event’s beating heart is supporting people who really, really need our help,” he said. “The local food pantry down the road from the festival is receiving support from Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program. Even Animalkind, which helps those who are facing tough times care for their pets, is just a 10-minute drive from here, and is receiving this support.”
When the festival premiered in 2013, Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program supported five organizations in the region. Today, that has reached 13 grantees: Albany Damien Center in Albany; Alliance for Positive Health in Albany; Animalkind in Hudson; Catskill Food Pantry in Catskill; Columbia County Recovery Kitchen in Hudson; Columbia-Greene Humane Society/ SPCA in Hudson; The Community Hospice in Albany; Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston; Matthew 25 Food Pantry in Catskill; Rock Steady Farm in Millerton; Roe Jan Food Pantry in Hillsdale; TOUCH (Together Our Unity Can Heal) in Congers; and Troy Area United Ministries in Troy.
Tickets to Hudson Valley Dance Festival are available at dradance.org. VIP tickets and sponsorship packages include a cocktail reception and an exclusive dinner with the dancers after the 5:00 pm performance.
Since its first production in 2013, Hudson Valley Dance Festival has welcomed a treasure trove of works from a range of styles, including tap dance from Caleb Teicher & Company and Dorrance Dance, ballet from Marcelo Gomes, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and Wendy Whalen, and contemporary and modern from Kyle Abraham/A.I.M, MADBOOTS DANCE, Martha Graham Dance Company, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Parsons Dance, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Stephen Petronio Company, among many others.
“I go back to Broadway Cares’ tagline: ‘what we do together makes a difference’,” Dang said. “The people who attend Hudson Valley Dance Festival see the impact it’s making and also get to experience the sublime beauty of these dancers.”
