BAM Unveils DANCEAFRICA Festival 2026 Lineup and Events
The annual Brooklyn festival will return over Memorial Day weekend with performances, films, classes, and community programming.
Brooklyn Academy of Music has announced details for DanceAfrica Festival 2026, which will take place from May 16-28.
Now entering its 49th year, DanceAfrica remains BAM’s longest-running program and one of the nation’s largest festivals dedicated to African and diasporic dance and culture.
Held annually over Memorial Day weekend, the festival transforms BAM and the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhood into a gathering space for African, Caribbean, and African American artistic traditions, featuring artists, audiences, and vendors from around the world.
This year’s festival will include live performances, film screenings, dance classes, and community events, alongside celebrations of art, fashion, food, and cultural traditions from across the African diaspora.
Additional programming details and the complete schedule are available through BAM.org.
PROGRAMMING CALENDAR
Date Event
- May 5–September 30 Visual Art Exhibition: Voice of Peace
- May 16 Tribute to the Ancestors
- May 16 Community Day
- May 19 Africa Reframed: Rethinking a Continent's History
- May 22–25 DanceAfrica 2026 Performances: Uganda: Umoja/Mirembe/Obulungi
- May 22–25 The Memorial Room
- May 22–28 FilmAfrica
- May 23–25 DanceAfrica Bazaar
- May 23 Late Night Dance Party
- May 24 Council of Elders Roundtable
- May 25 DanceAfrica Family Class
- May 25 DanceAfrica Inclusive Movement Class
- May 25 DanceAfrica Masterclass
- Ongoing DanceAfrica and the BAM Hamm Archives
Press Image Available: Download Here
For media inquiries, please contact: Cynthia Tate | ctate@bam.org.
PROGRAM DETAILS
DanceAfrica Visual Art
“Voices of Peace” (2023)
Sanaa Gateja
Starting May 5 | Dorothy W. Levitt Lobby (Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Ave)
Located along the escalator wall. Presented in collaboration with MoCADA, this year's visual art installation features Voices of Peace, a recent paper beads on bark cloth work by Uganda-born artist Sanaa Gateja. The tapestry brings together approximately fifteen figures rendered in a thicket of orange, green, and white beadwork, their feather-like arms reaching outward amid signifiers of the natural world—leaves, rounded forms, and adornments drawn from the environment. Separate elements unified by Gateja's intricate beadwork, “Voices of Peace” speaks to the urgent need for peace and environmental protection.
- Free and open to the public to view.
Tribute to the Ancestors
Saturday, May 16 at 10am | Weeksville Heritage Center (158 Buffalo Avenue)
A sacred tradition of DanceAfrica, this annual tribute honors those who came before us through music, drumming, dance performances, and a libation ceremony led by the DanceAfrica Council of Elders. Presented in partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center.
- Free and open to the public.
Community Day
Saturday, May 16 at 1pm | Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza (1368 Fulton St)
The official kickoff to DanceAfrica 2026, this vibrant celebration features performances by The Billie's Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble–now in its 30th year as part of the festival–alongside select participants of its general school and special guest artists. Presented in association with The Billie Holiday Theatre.
- Free and open to the public.
DanceAfrica Community Class
Sunday, May 17 at 12 pm | Fort Greene Park (Myrtle & St. Edwards Entrance)
An engaging, family-friendly dance workshop led by BAM teaching artist Kimani Fowlin, this class introduces participants to rhythms and movement from across the African Diaspora in an open-air setting. Co-presented by BAM and Fort Greene Park Conservancy.
- Tickets are free and open to the public with registration | Open to all ages.
Africa Reframed: Rethinking a Continent's History
Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30pm | Center for Brooklyn History of the Brooklyn Public Library (128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn Heights)
Presented in partnership with the Center for Brooklyn History of the Brooklyn Public Library as part of DanceAfrica 2026, this program asks: How has Africa's history been told, and by whom? Acclaimed journalist and author Howard W. French, whose book Born in Blackness repositions Africa at the center of the modern world's formation, joins Yale professor Dan Magaziner and Lovia Gyarkye, editor at Hammer & Hope, for a conversation that confronts historical distortions, celebrates groundbreaking intellectual contributions, and repositions Africa as central to the story of the modern world.
- Free and open to the public, with registration at centerforbrooklynhistory.org.
DanceAfrica Memorial Room
Thursday, May 21, 6pm–10pm; Friday, May 22 & Saturday, May 23, 1pm–10pm; Sunday, May 24 & Monday, May 25, 12pm–6pm
Devitre Lounge (Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Avenue)
Curated by Mamma Linda Evans and members of the DanceAfrica Council of Elders, the Memorial Room preserves the tradition of honoring ancestors connected to DanceAfrica and its visiting artists.
- Free and open to the public.
DanceAfrica Performances
DanceAfrica 2026 Uganda: Umoja/Mirembe/Obulungi (Unity/Peace/Beauty)!
Friday, May 22 at 7:30pm; Saturday, May 23 at 2pm & 7pm; Sunday, May 24 & Monday, May 25 at 3pm
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY)
Under the artistic direction of Abdel R. Salaam, DanceAfrica 2026 celebrates Uganda through this year's theme, Uganda: Umoja/Mirembe/Obulungi (Unity/Peace/Beauty)!. Uganda's acclaimed Ndere Troupe returns to BAM for the first time since 2007, joined by Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater celebrating its 25th anniversary, The DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers, and The Billie's Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble. Featuring traditional welcoming rituals, libation ceremonies, ancestral processions, live music, and dances representing Uganda's rich cultural diversity, this year's program highlights courtship dances, spiritual rituals, celebratory movement traditions, and storytelling rooted in community, joy, peace, and collective spirit.
- Tickets start at $25.
FilmAfrica
May 22–28 | BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave)
Presented in partnership with the New York African Film Festival, FilmAfrica returns with a dynamic lineup of contemporary and classic Pan-African cinema spotlighting Uganda alongside stories from across the African continent and diaspora. Highlights include Mississippi Masala (1991) directed by Mira Nair, Black Girl (1972) directed by Ossie Davis, The Girl in the Yellow Jumper (2020) directed by Loukman Ali, Freedom Way (2024), How To Build a Library (2025), My Father's Shadow (2025), and Germaine Acogny – The Essence of Dance (2025), alongside short film programs featuring emerging filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora. Full list of films and times at BAM.org.
- Tickets start at $12.
DanceAfrica Bazaar
Saturday, May 23, 12pm–10pm; Sunday, May 24 & Monday May 25, 12pm–8pm
Ashland Pl/ Lafayette Ave
A cornerstone of DanceAfrica, the Bazaar transforms BAM's neighborhood into an open-air gathering place featuring over 150 African, Caribbean, and African American artisans, designers, chefs, and entrepreneurs offering fashion, jewelry, crafts, and food. Drawing an estimated 30,000 visitors, this annual gathering is a cultural and commercial hub of African and diasporic creativity.
- Free and open to the public.
Late Night Dance Party
Saturday, May 23 at 10pm | The Adam Space/BAMcafe (Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Ave)
The celebration continues with DJ YB and guests, DanceAfrica's resident DJ, spinning a mix of Afrobeats, funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop, and global sounds for a night of movement and connection.
- Free and open to the public.
BAM and MoCADA Present
DanceAfrica Council of Elders Roundtable: Legacy & Preservation
Facilitated by Dyane Harvey Salaam with members of the DanceAfrica Council of Elders
Sunday, May 24 at 12pm | MoCADA Culture Lab II @ L10 (10 Lafayette Ave)
This roundtable, led by the DanceAfrica Council of Elders, explores the role of African traditions, ancestral connections, and cultural preservation in today's evolving artistic landscape. In conjunction with the ongoing DanceAfrica Oral History Project.
- Free and open to the public, with registration.
DanceAfrica Family Class
Monday, May 25 at 10am | Duffy Studio (Mark Morris Dance Center, 3 Lafayette Ave)
Taught by a member of Ndere Troupe, this hands-on, all-ages workshop invites families to experience Ugandan dance and music traditions through movement and culture. Co-presented by BAM and Mark Morris Dance Center.
- Tickets are $12 for adults | $15 family of two | $20 family of three | $25 family of four.
DanceAfrica Inclusive Movement Class
Monday, May 25 at 11am | Studio E Mark Morris Studio (Mark Morris Dance Center, 3 Lafayette Ave)
Dancer and choreographer Pat Hall leads this inclusive, interactive session designed for participants with or without disabilities. Available in-person or via livestream, this class draws on the movement traditions of the African diaspora as a means of connection, storytelling, and cultural expression. Co-presented by BAM and Mark Morris Dance Center.
- Tickets are $12 for In-Person | $10 for Virtual | Open to adults of all experience levels.
DanceAfrica Masterclass
Monday, May 25 at 12pm | Duffy Studio (Mark Morris Dance Center, 3 Lafayette Ave)
This high-energy immersive class, taught by a member of Ndere Troupe, introduces intermediate to advanced dancers to the rhythmic traditions and movement vocabulary of Ugandan dance. Co-presented by BAM and Mark Morris Dance Center.
- Tickets are $12 per participant.
DanceAfrica x the BAM Hamm Archives
Ongoing
LevyArchive.
Discover the BAM Hamm Archives' ongoing mission to preserve the vast legacy of DanceAfrica through projects focused on oral histories and recordings. This is an ongoing initiative as part of the Shelby White & Leon Levy BAM Digital Archive.
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