Summer in the city brings to mind many things—some good, some bad—but a hands-down highlight is the abundance of outdoor performing arts festivals. Among those focused on dance, Battery Dance Festival (New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival) is one of the most culturally and stylistically diverse, with a curated lineup of high-quality local and international companies taking part. This year, starting today, the 44th Annual Battery Dance Festival in Rockefeller Park will present both emerging and established American companies alongside dancers from Indonesia, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Romania, Bangladesh, India, the Netherlands, Taiwan and North Macedonia.
After launching in 1982, the festival—then called the Downtown Dance Festival—would host noontime performances by Battery Dance company members in public spaces throughout lower Manhattan, including South Street Seaport, One Chase Plaza and City Hall. Battery Dance eventually invited other companies to join the popular performances and, after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the festival found a safer, more settled home in Battery Park City. From there, audiences grew exponentially, attracting crowds of more than 12,000 dance enthusiasts summer after summer.
The festival’s lineup, which changes every year, is usually created through an open call to dance artists; last year, there were 350 applications. This year, however, Battery Dance founder and artistic director Jonathan Hollander curated the festival himself, drawing from his deep knowledge of the local dance scene and longstanding relationships with international consulates. The 2025 roster includes a few returning companies—the acclaimed Buglisi Dance Theatre will be performing in the festival for the tenth time—but the majority are festival first-timers.
What not to miss at this year’s Battery Dance Festival
Friday, August 15, is India Day, a mixed program of classical Indian dance around the theme of Shakti, or divine feminine energy. It will feature several groups and styles, including Nandanik Dance Troupe from Pittsburgh with choreographer and soloist Subhajit Khush Das from Kolkata, in a world premiere about the goddess Kali.
The other programs are purposely mixed, both culturally and stylistically, which Hollander says is the essence of this festival. “The idea is that people get exposed to things that they would never have seen before or even chosen to buy a ticket to. So this gives them that, like a tasting menu,” he told Observer.
One of the many international choreographers bringing a unique style to the festival is Faizah Grootens, a Netherlands-based native of Curaçao who is a house choreographer with Korzo Theatre in The Hague. She will be presenting two works: On-Still, recently created in collaboration with Battery Dance, and the duet While you’re here – Tanten bo t’aki. This will be her first time at the festival, which she has long appreciated for its commitment to cultural exchange and artistic inclusivity. Its “ability to bridge cultures through movement and storytelling is essential in today’s world,” she told Observer. “The festival is searching for points of view that bring us closer to compassion, justice, equality and a beautiful sense of belonging, no matter all our differences.”
Other international highlights include the Romanian company Platforma 13’s U.S. premiere of Balkan Ballerinas, a work exploring the impact of Western stigmas and stereotypes imposed upon Balkan identity, which Hollander describes as “really edgy and fun and new and exciting”; the world premiere of Madrid-based UNARTE Cía’s Verso Roto featuring two soloists from the Spanish National Ballet deconstructing traditional Spanish dance; and Bulareyaung Dance Company’s NYC premiere of the typhoon-inspired Colors, choreographed by Bulareyaung Pagarlava, an Indigenous choreographer from Taiwan who previously performed with Battery Dance as well as internationally with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.
Closer to home, longtime friends Dorchel Haqq and Kar’mel Antonyo Wade Small, both graduates of LaGuardia High School and Purchase College, are looking forward to seeing each other’s work as much as presenting their own premieres at the festival. Haqq’s swallow is “an unraveling of a stream of consciousness…about taking the time to listen to oneself and digest the autonomy of our blackness,” while Small (also a member of Battery Dance) will present the solo La Manta de Reina “based on the history of the Caribs of the island of Grenada and the sacrifice they made to escape French enslavement.”
Along with presenting Grootens’ On-Still, Battery Dance will perform the world premiere of Caribbean-American interdisciplinary artist Damani Pompey’s Empty Hand, a piece about “emptying oneself” and relinquishing attachments.
Buglisi Dance Theatre, the festival’s most mature returning company, will present the revival of the tragic duet Sospiri, choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi and first performed in 1989 by the Martha Graham Dance Company at New York City Center. Buglisi, who has been involved with the festival for over 25 years, told Observer she appreciates how it allows her company to reach a great diversity of audiences and generations, as well as “the incredible environment—nature, the sky, the grass, the river. People are relaxed, sitting on blankets, eating their dinner… It’s always wonderful to be performing in the Battery Dance Festival and sharing this performance amongst so many amazing companies and dancers.”
The 44th Annual Battery Park Dance Festival will hold free performances at 7:00 p.m. at Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City starting today through August 16.
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