Hudson Valley Dance Festival Returns for Two Performances this Fall Benefiting Dancers Responding to AIDS

Hudson Valley Dance Festival returns to the heart of the Hudson Valley for its fifth annual edition Saturday, October 7, 2017. The afternoon, featuring two enchanting performances, is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

This year's Hudson Valley Dance Festival (#hvdance) will feature renowned dance companies and emerging artists from a range of styles for performances at 2 pm and at 5 pm. The festival will again transform the 115-year-old wooden warehouse at Historic Catskill Point into a modern-day dance venue.

Tickets start at $40 and are on sale now at dradance.org or by calling 212.840.0770, ext. 229. Sponsorship opportunities also are available. New this year is a special VIP daytrip package from New York City that includes roundtrip luxury bus transportation, a tour of the just-restorEd Thomas Cole National Historic Site followed by a champagne luncheon, a ticket to the 2 pm performance and a cocktail reception after the show. In the 1800s, Cole was the founder of the famed Hudson River School of painting, the nation's first art movement, and the inspiration for this year's Hudson Valley Dance Festival artwork.

In its first four years, Hudson Valley Dance Festival has raised an impressive $460,397. The money raised helps Broadway Cares provide grants to AIDS and family service organizations nationwide, including nine based in the Hudson Valley: Albany Damien Center and Alliance for Positive Health in Albany, Animalkind and Columbia-Greene Community Foundation in Hudson, Matthew 25 Food Pantry and Community Hospice in Catskill, Hudson Valley Community Services in Hawthorne, Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Kingston and TOUCH (Together Our Unity Can Heal) in Congers.

Performers and choreographers will be announced this summer. Past companies have included Brian Brooks Moving Company, Caleb Teicher & Company, The Chase Brock Experience, Dorrance Dance, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jessica Lang Dance, KEIGWIN+COMPANY, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, MADBOOTS DANCE, Martha Graham Dance Company, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Stephen Petronio Company.

Hudson Valley Dance Festival is sponsored by The New York Times, United Airlines and City National Bank.

Dancers Responding to AIDS relies on the extraordinary compassion and efforts of the performing arts community to fund a safety net of social services for those in need. As a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Dancers Responding to AIDS supports the essential programs of The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative and The Dancers' Resource, as well as more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states.

For more information, please visit Dancers Responding to AIDS at dradance.org, on Facebook at facebook.com/DRAdance, on Instagram at instagram.com/DRAdance, on Twitter at twitter.com/DRAdance and on YouTube at youtube.com/DRAdance.

Photo credit: Daniel Roberts