Fire Island Dance Festival, the longest-running charitable and cultural event in Fire Island Pines raised a record $767,712 for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Held July 19-21, 2024, it helps ensure performing artists and those across the country living with HIV/AIDS and other debilitating illnesses have access to lifesaving medications, counseling, healthy meals, and emergency assistance.
The festival’s performances, hosted by Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, celebrated diversity and talent. This year’s lineup featured seven world premieres by choreographers Gilbert Bolden III, Billy Griffin, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Pontus Lidberg, Chalvar Monteiro, Ingrid Silva, and Akira Uchida. The companies represented included the Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, and Paul Taylor Dance Company, offering a rich and varied experience for all.
Since 1995, the Fire Island Dance Festival has raised more than $9.2 million to maintain a safety net of social services for performing arts professionals in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Dancers Responding to AIDS and Broadway Cares continues their commitment to health care in the Fire Island Pines community with Broadway Cares’ annual $25,000 grant to the Pines Care Center.
Photos © Dancers Responding to AIDS, all rights reserved.
