Battery Dance Festival, New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival, was established by Battery Dance as the Downtown Dance Festival in 1982. It draws audiences of approximately 2,000 people each night from the large downtown population of workers, residents, families, tourists, senior citizens and dance fans from the greater NYC metropolitan area and beyond. The Festival went virtual last summer and is planned to run as a hybrid model with live and streamed performances in August 2021.

Battery Dance Festival provides a unique opportunity for professional dancers and choreographers in any genre to present original works of high artistic merit in a free public forum against the backdrop of New York Harbor, Statue of Liberty and the sunset. Past participants have included Dorrance Dance, New York Theatre Ballet, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Vanaver Caravan, Dancing Earth Indigenous Dance Company, Music from the Sole, and Jamal Jackson Dance Company alongside pre-eminent companies from Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

COVID-19: If staged performances are not possible due to COVID restrictions, we may shift to a virtual-only festival.

Festival Dates: August 14-20, 2021

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2020
Apply here: batterydance.org/apply 

U.S.-based and International artists'/companies' submissions are curated by an independent panel of professionals. India Independence Day (Aug. 15) programs curated separately.