From virtual conversations, to fully reimagined digital performances, to physically distant outdoor experiences, THANK YOU for joining us in our 40th year of performances and events, youth and adult dance classes, and youth enrichment programs.
Our season ends this summer with two festivals, our annual DanceAfrica DC festival and a new festival, Gaze, featuring all LGBTQIA+ artists. Additionally, this summer includes a physically distant gathering in partnership with the Hillwood Estates, Garden and Museum, showcases that lift up the youth in Dance Place’s education programs, and the final iteration of the Exquisite Frame performance series. The programs that end this year serve as a celebration to reflect back, honor the present, and think forward to the future.
40 years of growth, innovation, and resilience create the Dance Place of today, and we are so grateful for your steadfast community and support. Join us this summer as we end an unprecedented year with FORTITUDE.
June 1 – 6, 2021
Free virtual festival and physically distant gathering.
Join us for a week of dance, music, and tradition during our 34th annual DanceAfrica, DC festival; Together Again: Celebrating Life, Love, Unity, and Hope! Celebrate the spirit of the African Diaspora with master classes, oral histories, and both virtual and in-person performances. Hosted by Griot Mama Sylvia Soumah, DanceAfrica, DC 2021 is guaranteed to inspire, invigorate, educate, and entertain. Learn more and stay updated on this year’s festival at danceplace.org/dadc2021
Spring Youth Performance Showcase
Thursday, June 10th at 6:30pm EST
Friday, June 11th at 6:30pm EST
Join us as we celebrate the work of our youth from Dance Place’s various educational programs. In this two-night virtual performance event, the showcase will include performances from our Junior Staff students, Dance Place Youth Performing Company, Kids on the Move students, and additional students involved in our educational programs.
Gaze: A Queer research and performance gathering
June 16 – 20, 2021
Free virtual event
Dance Place is excited to host and present Gaze, a 5-day virtual festival highlighting local and national LGBTQIA+ artists and companies. Featuring performances from Creep Cuts and jumatatu m. poe and Donte Beachem and virtual workshops as part of Excessive Realness, a queer-normative dance intensive, this full week event will celebrate and honor queer identities and expression.
Saturday, July 10 at 6:30pm EST
Exquisite Frame is a performance series presenting work by DMV-based movement artists that leverages the precarious potential of the digital platform. Curated and hosted by Dance Place AIR Britta Joy Peterson and guest-curator/host Rebecca A. Ferrell, this is the final in a three-part series that will take place throughout the 2020-2021 season. Join us to witness new works that play with and push up against ordinary and exquisite.
The Applications for Exquisite Frame can be found HERE through May 7, 2021.
Physically Distanced Performance*
In partnership with Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
July 21 – 25, 2021
Dance Place and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens present a co-commissioned, site-specific, movement-based performance commission and presentation. The performance will take place at Hillwood, where the selected Artist/Company will share a new work which is in dialogue with incoming sculpture installation Rich Soil by Kristine Mays, a California-based sculpture artist whose inspirations include Alvin Ailey’s famed work, Revelations.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the selected artist!
*Physically distant gathering times and ticket information coming soon. All in-person events are pending based on local and federal health regulations
Thank you to our FORTITUDE Season Sponsors!
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities,
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation,National Endowment for the Arts,
The Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, SHARE Fund
