Dance/NYC Announces Full Lineup for NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE

Dance/NYC has announced full program details for NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE, the organization’s annual celebration in support of its work advancing equity and opportunity across New York City’s dance field. The event will take place Wednesday, October 21, 2026, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at 26 Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

This year’s event will honor Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, the Tony Award-winning co-choreographers of Broadway’s CATS: The Jellicle Ball, with the 2026 NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE Award. The award recognizes their leadership in bringing ballroom culture to new audiences while preserving its integrity and championing the community from which it comes.

The evening will feature music by DJ Ali Coleman, a New York City-based DJ, producer, and cultural organizer whose relationship with DJ culture emerged through early disco, block parties, and club spaces. Pop-up installations will spotlight Dance/NYC grantees, including Bengali-American director, choreographer, educator, and iconoclast Ishita Mili (IMGE) and French-Vietnamese dance artist, curator, and educator Mai Lê Hô (LayeRhythm), alongside local artists including Brooklyn-based, multi-genre Afrocentric global dance and drum collective Home & Abroad BK Drumming Group.

NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE brings Dance/NYC’s advocacy to the dance floor, drawing on a long history of dance floors as spaces where communities gather, create culture, find belonging, and build collective power. From ballroom and club culture to street and social dance traditions, movement has long created spaces for communities to come together on their own terms. Through the event, Dance/NYC aims to bring artists, advocates, funders, policymakers, and neighbors together in that tradition while strengthening the relationships and collective investment needed to sustain New York City’s dance field.

“Advocacy is also about who we gather, who we celebrate, and what we amplify,” said Monica Steffey, Dance/NYC’s Director of Programming and Operations. “Guided by Brinda Guha’s curatorial vision, this lineup reflects the many ways dance lives across New York City—in our communities, cultural traditions, nightlife, and beyond—while honoring the generations of artists, organizers, and advocates whose work has made these spaces for movement and cultural expression possible.”

All proceeds from the event support Dance/NYC’s work investing directly in dance workers, expanding access to resources and professional development, and advocating for policies that strengthen the dance workforce.

Tickets start at $150 and are available at Dance.NYC/NYFD. Three tiers are available: Mover ($150) includes one general admission ticket; Amplifier ($300) includes one general admission ticket plus the cost of a community ticket for a dance worker; and Champion ($500) includes one general admission ticket plus the cost of two community tickets for dance workers.

A limited number of community tickets will also be available for dance workers and community partners for whom the ticket price is a barrier to attending. Details on how to express interest are available online.

Abdiel leads crowd in soul train line at the Dance/NYC NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE event. Photo by Rachel Monteleone, @montephoteaux