Battery Dance, in association with Battery Park City Authority, announces the 35th Annual Battery Dance Festival (formerly the Downtown Dance Festival), with free performances on August 14-19, 2016, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm against the breathtaking backdrop of the New York Harbor at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park in Battery Park City, culminating in a closing event and reception on August 20, 2016, from 6pm to 8:30pm at The Schimmel Center at Pace University. For more information visit http://batterydance.org/battery-dance-festival.

Established by Battery Dance in 1982 as the Downtown Dance Festival, today Battery Dance Festival (BDF) is New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival. Audiences are drawn from the downtown working population and residents, families, tourists, senior citizens and dance fans from the greater NYC metropolitan area. Each year, the Festival draws a combined audience of over 10,000.

Battery Dance Festival provides a unique opportunity for local and international dance companies to present original works of high artistic merit in a free public forum. BDF revels in the panoply of dance that our city offers, with strong emphasis on the inclusion of diverse dance styles and an international roster of performers. American choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Robert Battle, Andrea Miller, Michelle Dorrance and Darrell Moultrie have all presented their works alongside pre-eminent companies from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

This year’s featured artists include:

LOCAL COMPANIES
Amy Marshall Dance Company
Ballet Inc.
Battery Dance
Buglisi Dance Theatre
De Funes Dance
DoubleTake Dance
FJK Dance
Florida Dance Theatre | Lakeland, Florida
Graham ChoreoLab
Joshua Beamish/Move: The Company
Kilowatt Dance Theater
Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Company
Maxine Steinman & Dancers
Obika Dance Projects
Robin Aren/TRAC
Shawnbibledanceco.
Steps Repertory Ensemble
Thomas/Ortiz Dance | New Canaan, CT
Trainor Dance
Unnah H.R.
XAOC Contemporary Ballet
Y + Y Dance

INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES
Compañía Periferia - Cartagena, Colombia (U.S. Debut)
Pori Dance Company - Pori, Finland (U.S. Debut)
Razvan Stoian - Bucharest, Romania (World Premiere)
SEAD’s Bodhi Project - Salzburg, Austria (U.S. Debut)
Zeynep Tanbay Dance Project - Istanbul, Turkey (U.S. Debut)

ERASING BORDERS FESTIVAL OF INDIAN DANCE ,
Presented in association with the Indo-American Arts Council
Avijit Das - Bangalore, India
Carolina Prada - New Delhi, India
Chowk (Raka Maitra) - Singapore
Pt. Krishan Mohan Mishra - New Delhi, India
Surabhi Bharadwaj - San Francisco
Sooraj Subramaniam - Gent, Belgium
Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts - Mumbai, India

SUPPORT FOR THE 2016 BATTERY DANCE FESTIVAL
American Express, Lead Sponsor; Holiday Inn Manhattan-Financial District, Exclusive Hospitality Sponsor. Public Funds have been provided by New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York City Councilmember Margaret Chin’s Office. Generous sponsorship provided by Air India, Goldman Sachs, The American Turkish Society, The Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in New York, The Austrian Cultural Forum, The Romanian Cultural Institute, Colombian Consulate in New York, Tornasol Inc., Avianca Airlines, American Scandinavia Foundation, Consulate General of Finland in New York.

ABOUT BATTERY DANCE
Battery Dance created its outdoor festival in 1981 as part of its service to the downtown community in which it has been based for 40 years. As one of America’s leading cultural ambassadors, Battery Dance connects the world through dance. The Company pursues artistic excellence and social relevance by creating vibrant new works, performing on the world’s stages, presenting dance in public spaces, serving the field of dance and teaching people of all ages with special attention to the disadvantaged and areas of conflict. Battery Dance is committed to enhancing the cultural vibrancy of its home community in New York City, extending programming throughout the U.S., and building bridges worldwide through international cultural exchange with programs in 65 countries to date.

www.batterydance.org