American Dance Festival

by Mimi Montgomery

Movement is alive in the Triangle this summer when the American Dance Festival hosts its 83rd season in Durham June 16 – July 30. Heralded by The New York Times as “one of the nation’s most important institutions,” the festival, founded in 1934, aims to foster creative growth in the modern dance world by bringing together dancers, choreographers, and students to learn and practice alongside one another. This season, the festival will present 61 performances in 13 Durham venues by 26 companies and choreographers from Israel, Russia, France, and the U.S. Throughout, professional training workshops will be held for dancers, choreographers, students, and teachers from around the world at Duke University.

The gathering also aims to have a local impact: ADF Project Dance offers creative movement workshops to Triangle students and distributes over 500 free performance tickets to local nonprofits. The group also partners with Durham’s Central Park School for Children to introduce dance classes as an alternative to more traditional physical education classes.

Throughout the summer, ADF will also partner with lululemon for free, public yoga classes; lead free tours throughout the ADF school; host a children’s Saturday matinee series featuring especially imaginative performances to captivate little ones; and hold free movie screenings focusing on the relationship between body movement and cinema. Plus, through the ADF Go program, young art lovers between the ages of 18-30 can purchase a $10 ticket to any performance (barring Savion Glover and Jack DeJohnette June 20-21).

Go big, go small, but definitely go. There are plenty of performances happening throughout the two months and it’s easy to take your pick.

For a full list of performances, events, locations, and ticket prices, visit americandancefestival.org