When deciding where to spend your summer, you may have one goal in mind: Which program is going to get me closest to the career path of my dreams? But the impact that summer study programs can have is wide-ranging—and sometimes surprising.

Much of the dance world is at—or headed to—a summer festival right now. It’s impossible to catch it all, but if we could be in multiple places at once, here’s what we’d be hoping to see.

This July, two beloved summer mainstays return, while a spate of made-for-the-moment programs have us grabbing our sun hats to catch some dance in the open air. Back to the Pillow Bryn Cohn + Artists performing on the Inside/Out stage in 2019 Grace Kathryn Landefeld, Courtesy Jacob’s Pillow BECKET, MA, AND ONLINE Jacob’s Pillow Dance […]

This July, two beloved summer mainstays return, while a spate of made-for-the-moment programs have us grabbing our sun hats to catch some dance in the open air. Back to the Pillow Bryn Cohn + Artists performing on the Inside/Out stage in 2019 Grace Kathryn Landefeld, Courtesy Jacob’s Pillow BECKET, MA, AND ONLINE Jacob’s Pillow Dance […]

March 31, 2020: It was the day the summer dance festivals died. Though the respective directors of Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival hadn’t planned to announce the cancellations of their 2020 editions all on the same day, their decisions appeared in inboxes and on social media channels within hours of each […]

As far as we’re concerned, it’s not really summer until our favorite dance festivals kick things off. This year’s season is as packed and promising as ever, with seemingly everyone who is anyone converging on at least one big festival between now and August. Here are the artists, premieres and collaborations we can’t wait to […]

Compare the gestation of new works across the performing arts and you’ll find an ingredient mostly missing in concert dance that’s occasionally used in opera and relatively common with plays and musical theater: the preview period. Ranging from a few days to, in the case of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a record-breaking 182 performances, […]

It’s summer festival season! If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the dizzying array of offerings, never fear: We’ve combed through the usual suspects to highlight the shows we most want to catch. American Dance Festival Members of A.I.M. perform Kyle Abraham’s Dearest Home. Photo by Paula Court, Courtesy ADF ADF shows no sign of slowing down […]