Little Island, New York City’s new public park on the Hudson River, has announced plans for its inaugural Storytelling Festival, curated by Artists-in-Residence PigPen Theatre Co., as well as a Dance Festival, curated by Artist-in-Residence Ayodele Casel and Co-Curator Torya Beard.
The Storytelling Festival will run July 21–25, featuring a mix of disciplines and genres to highlight storytelling in a variety of art forms. Presentations include:
- LianXi- Connection: Stories from a Chinese-American Musician, with Stephanie Chou
- Live Literature Concert: Sarah Kay, Mahogany L. Browne, and Jon Sands, in collaboration with composer Rajna Swaminathan
- Michael Thurber Presents: A Giant Explosion of Love & Joy, featuring Daniel J. Watts, Amber Iman, Tessa Lark, Mark Dover, and Jon Lampley
- Griots in Concert, featuring Dr. Linda H Humes, master drummer Liberty, and 98 Degrees in the Sun
- Tales From The Little Island, with Ed Rosini
- You’re Never Too Old to Play, Westbeth Workshop
- Lenape Journeys, with Rebecca Haff Lowry and David L. Haff
- Sing Again: A Reunion Concert with Shaina Taub & Community, featuring Kim Blanck, Ato Blankson-Wood, Mike Brun, Darius de Haas, Cherrye J. Davis, Kate Ferber, Jo Lampert, Jose Llana, Hiroyuki Matsuura, David Farrell Melton, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Liana Stampur, and Kuhoo Verma
- Bandits on the Run on Little Island
- PigPen Theater Co. in Concert
- Ishita Jain
- Outside Voices: The Best of BKBX, with Broken Box Mime Theater
- Stories For A New Island, with Daniel Nayeri and PigPen Theatre Co.
- Welcome Home: An Evening with Phil Kaye & The Westerlies
- OVERHEAR, an installation by Mikhail Fiksel
- Glimpses of Narcissus, an installation by Lydia Fine and Tony Blahd
For the full Storytelling Festival schedule, click here.
Subsequently, the Dance Festival will run September 15–19 featuring tap artists, classical and contemporary Indian dance, African drumming, and more. The festival will celebrate National Dance Day on September 18 with the premiere of four new works. Presentations for the festival include:
- Sunset Sounds: The Afro-Latineers
- Tomoe Carr
- The House of Xtravaganza
- Love Movement by Barkha Patel and Michele Marino Lerman
- Dizzy Spells by Brinae Ali and Sean Jones
- Leo Manzari & Morgan James and Doug Wamble
- Ayodele & Friends
- Music in the Glade: Crystal Monee Hall
- Brinda Guha
- Rokafella and Ryan K. Johnson
- Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company
- Late Night in The Play Ground: MICHIYAYA Dance
- Jared Alexander Sprague
- Leonardo Sandoval & Music from the Sole
- Don’t Call It A Comeback: Circling Themes, Chasing Dreams, featuring Aaron Mattocks, Danni Gee, Ted Louis Levy, Rokafella, and Torya Beard
- They Got Next: The Next Generation of Dance Leaders, with Maurice Chestnut’s Dance Therapy, Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance, MOVE|NYC|, Tomoe Carr, and Andre Imanishi
For a full Dance Festival schedule, click here.
The majority of festival programming is free but requires registration or timed entry. Tickets for select events in The Amph are available now at LittleIsland.org.
