American Dance Festival

06/05/2026

🎉Take a chance on dance! If you're the type to tear up the dance floor and always up for a fun time, you will enjoy yourself at these high-energy ADF performances! 🪩

🔹Jesse Factor
🔹Camille A. Brown & Dancers
🔹Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble
🔹Monica Bill Barnes & Company

Grab your besties and come out for a night that will have you grooving in your seat!

06/05/2026

Dance belongs to everybody, at every age. This free 90-minute workshop is especially for adults and elders who may not have had the chance to dance before, but are curious to explore movement in a supportive space. Guided by artists of the Pioneer Winter Collective, you’ll step into the creative process behind Apollo, their newest dance-theater work about legacy, resilience, and intergenerational care. https://loom.ly/c56Mo7I
💥All-Bodies Community Workshop with Pioneer Winter
📆Saturday, June 20
🕐2–3:30 pm
💻FREE, registration required
📍ADF's Scripps Dance Studios (721 Broad St.)

06/04/2026

Taiwanese choreographer I-Ling Liu presents "… and, or…", a 25-minute duet on the subject of “decision making” which explores the conditions and choices for establishing relationships while searching for the difference between pushing the boundary and overstepping it.🧩👐

This program brings together I-Ling Liu and Stacey Spence in their ADF choreographic debuts.

💥Program: … and, or… by I-Ling Liu & I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves by Stacy Matthew Spence
🕐Running time: 60 minutes, including one intermission
📆Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm*Post-Performance Discussion
Wednesday, June 24 at 2 pm
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30 pm
📍von der Heyden Studio Theater
🎟️Tickets: $30 https://loom.ly/oszsdiY
♫ This performance features live music!

Photos by Sugawara Kota and Terry Lin

06/04/2026

In the luminous spaces of the Guangzhou Grand Theatre, internationally acclaimed artist Shen Wei will unveil his latest work, MindScape, a collaboration between the Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts. The work will premiere on June 5 and 6, before traveling to the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in July and later to Lincoln Center's Summer for the City in Dance Encounters, a new outdoor series, during Chinese Arts Week in New York from July 22-25. Read more here: https://loom.ly/3HhY7gM

In the luminous spaces of the Guangzhou Grand Theatre, internationally acclaimed artist Shen Wei will unveil his latest work, MindScape, a collaboration between the Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts. The work will premiere on June 5 and 6, before traveling to the American Dance....

06/03/2026

Enter the Marthaverse with dance artist Jesse Factor. This course offers an embodied introduction to key themes and movement principles from the Graham technique. Participants will engage with signature Graham sequences involving contraction/release, spiral, and shift of weight.
💥Enter the Marthaverse with Jesse Factor
📆Sunday, June 14
🕐11:00 am–12:30 pm
$10 drop-in https://loom.ly/c56Mo7I

06/02/2026

Stacy Matthew Spence will present 3 works at ADF💫 a solo, "I am, here", a duet, "Here with us", and a quartet, "Where we find ourselves", created in collaboration with dancers and musicians. These pieces explore ideas of self, impulse, and sharing. How do we find ourselves? How do we find our place? How do we find each other?

This program brings together I-Ling Liu and Stacey Matthew Spence in their ADF choreographic debuts.

💥Program: … and, or… by I-Ling Liu & I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves by Stacy Matthew Spence
🕐Running time: 60 minutes, including one intermission
📆Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm*Post-Performance Discussion
Wednesday, June 24 at 2 pm
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30 pm
📍von der Heyden Studio Theater
🎟️Tickets: $30 (link in bio & website)
♫ This performance features live music! https://loom.ly/oszsdiY

📷Photos by Elyssa Goodman

06/02/2026

Spend your summer in Durham with ADF! ☀️ Immerse yourself in career-defining dance training with outstanding faculty and mentors from all over the world! https://loom.ly/bGIKx7Y

06/02/2026

This program brings together I-Ling Liu and Stacy Spence, former members of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and Trisha Brown Dance Company, respectively, in their ADF choreographic debuts.

💥Program: … and, or… by I-Ling Liu & I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves by Stacy Matthew Spence
🕐Running time: 60 minutes, including one intermission
📆 Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm *Post-Performance Discussion
Wednesday, June 24 at 2 pm
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30 pm
📍von der Heyden Studio Theater
🎟️Tickets: $30 (link in bio & website)
♫ This performance features live music!

https://loom.ly/oszsdiY

06/01/2026

This intermediate-advanced ballet class will follow a traditional structure (full barre, full center) while concurrently exploring the idea of “mermaiding” in ballet. Where does working with the legs as a unit help us create stability and/or propel ourselves in one direction? In what ways do both seabound creatures and ballet dancers defy gravity? What is the meaning of fluidity, both underwater and in ballet?
💥Mermaid Inspired Ballet Class with Courtney Liu
📆Friday, June 12
🕐6:30 pm–8:00 pm
$10 drop-in
https://loom.ly/c56Mo7I

05/29/2026

Don't miss this iconic ADF-commissioned collaboration with Shen Wei Dance Arts and Guangdong Modern Dance Company this summer!
💥Program: MindScape | ADF Co-commission
🕐Running time: 60–70 minutes, no intermission
📆 Friday, July 17 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, July 18 at 5 pm *Post-Performance Discussion
📍Reynolds Theater
🎟️Tickets: $30-$60

Shen Wei Dance Arts Photo by Filip Wolak