3 Forest Hills Dance Companies To Perform At Queens Festival

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Three Forest Hills dance companies will perform in this year’s Queensboro Dance Festival, which will kick off next weekend in a hybrid tour of livestreamed and in-person programing around the borough.

Drye/Marinaro Dance Company, Mala’s Odissi, and Na Pua Mai Ka Lani Nuioka in Forest Hills are among 23 Queens-based dance companies that will teach classes and perform around the borough in this year’s eighth annual installment of the dance festival, which is slated to run from May 15 to October 3, with over 20 free events in 13 Queens neighborhoods.

After performing exclusively on Instagram Live during last year’s festival, all of this year’s in-person programming will continue to be livestreamed on social media, where the Queensboro Dance Festival will also announce more information about the schedule of their performances.

The companies, which are located everywhere from Astoria to Forest Hills and Rosedale, span the geography of Queens, and also offer an array of cultural dance styles.

The Forest Hills studios alone — Drye/Marinaro Dance Company, Mala’s Odissi, and Na Pua Mai Ka Lani Nuioka — perform contemporary dance, Indian classical dance, and hula, respectively.

The festival’s executive director, Karesia Batan, told the Queens Chronicle, that this year’s show explores themes of “resilience” in response to the dancer’s past year of lockdown amid the pandemic.

She said that many dancers — who depend on in-person and performance work — were out of a job during the pandemic, when their dance schools or studios shuttered.

“Dance is so magical when you get to experience it in person, when there is a direct performer and audience connection, and when dancers can be together on stage,” Batan said, adding that virtual and hybrid performances have been “challenging” but that safety comes first.

For that reason in-person audiences will be limited based on COVID-safety guidelines, and the festival will stick with weekly Instagram Live sessions that allow companies to perform from their home neighborhoods.

“I believe that dance is important to our city and to our world,” said Nicole Kadar, a member of the Astoria-based movement company NK&D in a Queensboro Dance Festival video where dancers shared what the past year has been like for them.

Kadar added that she believes this coming together, after a year of dancing apart is “a moment for us to connect to one another for healing.”