(MADISON, NJ) -- The Madison Mostly Dance Festival '24 takes place April 25 to May 5, 2024 and includes dance performances, films about dance, theater about dance, and music. Performances take place at the Madison Community Arts Center (10 Kings Road) in Madison, New Jersey.
April 25-27 Drew University Dance Department | Spring Concert | Collective Memories. Back for a second time this season, the department is pulling out all of the stops and opening all of our doors for three days of dance inside Rose Hall and outside on the Rose Pavilion. Under the direction of Assistant Professor Kimani Fowlin, the department will present student-choreographed pieces based on the theme of Collective Memories. Performances take place April 25-26 at 7:30pm and April 27 at 2:00pm.
Saturday, April 27 at 7:30pm Film Society of Summit | Call Me Dancer. This documentary follows Manish Chauhan, a street dancer from Mumbai, whose working-class parents depend on their only son’s support. When he accidentally walks into an inner-city dance school and encounters a brilliant but curmudgeonly 70-year-old Israeli ballet master, a hunger develops within him. Ambitious and passionate, Manish is determined to make it as a professional dancer, but the odds are stacked against him.
Call Me Dancer is a story of hope, heartache, and hard work. Together, Manish and Yehuda transform each other’s lives, searching to uncover who and what they are. Yehuda seeks purpose and a place to call home. Manish dreams of dancing on the world-stage but struggles to break free from the confines of his economic and social circumstances.
This is an inspired and evocative portrait of the travails and triumphs of the human spirit. A rich, lush and beautiful film that is charmingly engaging, energetic, humorous, serious, and everything in-between. Call Me Dancer has been winning awards on the festival circuit this year.
Saturday, April 27 at 4:30pm At the Barre | a play by Yasmine Beverly Rana. In partnership with their New Jersey Women Playwrights Program, internationally acclaimed playwright Yasmine Rana has created a play about the healing power of dance.
The women at the barre tell their stories and discover inspiration and empowerment in the sacred space of a ballet barre class in New York City. This beginner class is diverse in body size and age with the youngest being nineteen and the eldest, eighty. Their life experiences include sexual assault, breast cancer, an arranged marriage, the deportation of a spouse, and war in Syria. Their cultural identities include Russian, Indian, Pakistani, Syrian, and Central American. Despite their differences in age and life, they are unified by their desire and need to embrace and express themselves through their bodies. With the advent of movements including Me Too and DACA, the women at the barre share moments of warmth, humor, and encouragement at a most relevant time in history.
Sunday, April 28 at 4:00pm Baroque Orchestra of NJ. Uder the baton of Maestro Robert W. Butts, the The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey will present an eclectic mix of classical and contemporary classical music.
Monday, April 29 at 7:30pm Individuals with Disabilities from the Matheny School’s Arts Access Choreography Program. The Matheny Medical and Education Center has a unique arts program that provides individuals with disabilities the freedom to create in the visual literary, and performing arts. This evening we will present works created and performed by participants in the Choreography program.
Tuesday, April 30 at 7:30pm Tap Dancers Take the Lead | Dan Levinson with A.C. Lincoln. Dan Levinson on the clarinet and A.C. Lincoln on the Taps. Jazz groups are using tap dancers again in a throwback to the Thirties and Forties when Tap was King. For this show, we will present a jazz ensemble led by noted clarinetist Dan Levinson in which the tap dancer takes the role of a soloist.
Native New Yorker AC Lincoln was “Born in a Trunk” to Jazz singing duo parents Kim and Marion while on their tour of The U.S. Virgin Islands. Landing back on the scene in NYC, AC would soon be sharing the stage with many of the tap dance greats (“The Hoofers”) including Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, Chuck Green and Savion Glover . Sharing the family stage with his sister, widely acclaimed singer and songwriter Emily King. As well as writing, producing, arranging and singing his own original music, AC Lincoln has been both a sideman (The Hot Sardines, Mercedes Ellington, WInard Harper and Jeli Posse, Brian Newman, Antoinette Montague) and band leader, singing and tap dancing throughout NYC and abroad.
The 2017 winner of Hot House Magazine’s “NYC Jazz Fans Decision” award for Best Clarinetist, Dan Levinson is equally at home as both leader and sideman, fronting his own groups as well as performing with those led by others. During a 30-year career specializing in traditional jazz and swing music, he has appeared alongside such prominent artists as Mel Tormé, Wynton Marsalis, Dick Hyman, Bria Skonberg, Ed Polcer, Howard Alden, Joe Ascione, Dan Barrett, Jon-Erik Kellso, Randy Reinhart, Mark Shane, Dick Sudhalter, Frank Vignola, Rossano Sportiello, Nicki Parrott, and Randy Sandke.
Wednesday, May 1 at 7:00pm Swing Dancing with Nissreen Almazouni & The Bottle Hill Big Band. You won’t be dancing in the aisles, because you’ll have the whole floor. Don’t know how to swing dance? Nissreen is here to help you out!
The nineteen-piece Bottle Hill Big Band will perform and Dance teacher Nissreen Almazouni will instruct swing, lindy, etc., to those who are beginners (or need a brush-up) starting at 7:00 pm. Dancing begins at 7:30.
Nisreen Almazouni been dancing for over 20 years and teaching for the past ten in New Jersey and the Tri-State area. “I learned the Lindy Hop in New York City from iconic instructors who studied with Frankie Manning, and I had the the pleasure and honor to take lessons with him as well. I performed professionally with many Lindy Hop groups in NYC (such as the Lindy Hop All-stars and the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers) and continue to perform in summer Jazz festivals, private gigs and my own performance classes. I am passionate about teaching and helping my students build a solid technique foundation. I also aim to foster their unique sense of musicality for the dance. All while having fun. I currently teach group lessons at Swing Remix in NYC as well as my ongoing lessons in NJ.”
The Bottle Hill Big Band, is a nonprofit organization comprised of volunteer musicians, with a repertoire that spans the classics from the 1930’s and 1940’s through the big band music of today. They honor the music of Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and other greats, and more recent artists like Chuck Mangione, and Maynard Ferguson.
Thursday, May 2 at 7:30pm Kalagangothri | An Evening of Indian Classical Dance. Enjoy an evening of traditional Indian Classical Dance as Kalagangothri presents Bharatanatyam, a classical form that expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas. The dance dates back to the time before Christ, although in India the date is referred to BCE and not BC.
During India’s colonization by the British, the government tried to suppress temple dances, but since 1947, the art form has been revived. In the second half of the 20 th century, Bharatanatyam has become to Indian dance tradition what Ballet has been to the West.
The dancers include Gia Sudhi, Sihi Hebbar, Parnitha Surendra, Navya Subramanin, Samhitha Pavan, Dyuthi Mohan, Sai Soundaryaa Satish, Nandikaa Mohankrishna, Shikara Avinash, Aadhya Patel, Samhitha Rao,Diya Membally, Shilpa Kadambi, Risha Ravindran, Pradeep Kumar, Dr Meghana, Akhila Chetan, Chetan Hebbar.
Friday, May 3 at 7:30pm Thomas Edison Film Festival | Dance on Screen. Screen Dance has become an important category for the Thomas Edison Film Festival (formerly The Black Maria Film Festival), an internationally-renowned juried festival of short-form films. TEFF screens juried short films from all over the world, advancing the creative power of film across several genres including narrative, experimental, documentary, screen dance and hybrids. This program presents the very best films that include dance.
Executive Director Jane Steuerwald will introduce the program and discuss how dance is used in each of the films.
Saturday, May 4 at 3:30pm & 7:00pm Extensions Dance Project. Based in Madison, the Extensions Dance Project seeks to empower students and provide quality dance education in a fun environment. Recognizing that most dance students will not end up as professionals, the program seeks to instill confidence, discipline, perseverance, motivation, loyalty, determination, and teamwork while setting students on a path toward fulfillment. Their dance team will present an inspirational evening of dance ranging from hip hop and contemporary to jazz and tap.
Sunday, May 5 at 3:00pm Mariel Bildsten. Downbeat Magazine calls trombonist Mariel Bildsten “irrepressibly spontaneous” (2020), and her 2023 release “Steppin’ Out!” explodes onto the scene as the exciting follow-up to “Backbone,” her 2020 debut. Mariel Bildsten headlines jazz festivals, plays around the country, and performs regularly in New York City, in the US, and internationally. Mariel has been featured onstage with Jon Batiste, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jennifer Hudson, Roy Hargrove, and many others. A passionate and popular educator, Mariel guides students through masterclass group instruction, workshops, and clinics, as well as leading educational shows in public schools through Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The concert will also include an opening act from the NJJS Rising Stars Program, highly accomplished students of Jazz from New Jersey high school and college Jazz programs.
Tickets for these events are available now. Discount ticket packages are also available. You can get an Unlimited Pass, a Five-Pack, or a Three-Pack. For tickets to individual events, click on the event title to go to the event page. For information on ticket packages, click here.
The Madison Community Arts Center (MCAC) is the heart of a vibrant arts and culture scene in the Greater Madison, NJ area. The Center is committed to the creative health and well-being of the entire community, and to that end, it provides a space for the community to gather, create, and bear witness to the creative work of both professional and avocational artists. Run by the Borough of Madison in partnership with the Madison Arts and Culture Alliance and the Downtown Development Commission, it seeks, through self-generated programs and strategic partnerships, to promote and advocate for artistic and cultural activities throughout the Madison area, participate in local arts and culture education and literacy efforts, and enhance the economic and overall quality of life in the Borough.
