Kaatsbaan Cultural Park announces 2026 Annual Festival
For three consecutive Saturdays, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park will present its 2026 Annual Festival in Tivoli, NY, on August 29, September 5, and September 12, 2026. The festival marks Kaatsbaan’s tenth annual festival since 2020 and features a multidisciplinary lineup with a strong focus on dance, movement, and community.
The festival opens on August 29 with an all-day celebration featuring dance performances by Calpulli Danza Mexicana, Ballez, and Anna Sperber, followed by an evening concert by Valerie June.
Calpulli Danza Mexicana’s Native Mexico: Dances of the First Peoples invites audiences to honor earth, spirit, and community through rhythms and rituals inspired by pre-Hispanic peoples. Ballez presents Travesty Doll Play (after Coppélia), a choreographic reimagining of the 1870 story ballet exploring the tenderness and perseverance of new life, the joy and support found in desire and connection, and the love and humanity that transforms and thrives in our relations with one another. Anna Sperber’s Bessie Award-winning Bow Echo will be adapted for Kaatsbaan’s outdoor landscape, creating a movement and sound collaboration with the grasses, the trees, the sky, and the expanse.
The September 5 programming centers on storytelling and includes work from several performance artists, including Lucy Sexton (DANCENOISE) and Adrienne Truscott (Wau Wau Sisters), who present Blonde AF: a girl’s journey to hell and back, a punk-rock feminist fairytale set to the music of Blondie.
The festival concludes September 12 with an evening celebrating large-scale dance performances. Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE and Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington/MasterZ at Work open the day with performances on the Mountain Stage.
EVIDENCE presents Ronald K. Brown’s Where the Light Shines Through and Torch performed by Brown’s dancers. MasterZ at Work presents The 24/7 Diner, with choreography by Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington blending house, hip hop, vogue, and street dance forms. The work captures the bustle of a big city, all-night diner and the internal landscape of those who work and gather inside.
The festival also includes a pre-festival conversation on September 11 featuring choreographers Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington, Ronald K. Brown, and Arcell Cabuag, facilitated by Souleymane Badolo, exploring their artistic lineages, dance influences, and creative inspirations.
“Inspired guest curator Michèle Steinwald” (The Dance Enthusiast) returns following her 2025 festival, recognized for programming that “leans into reflection, intimacy, and resonance” (Rural Intelligence). Steinwald’s 2026 selections continue her focus on multidisciplinary storytelling and community.
“The 2026 festival program reflects what I learned during my time in Tivoli last year,” Steinwald said. “Kaatsbaan audiences and local artists influenced the direction of the festival in how we are centering communities and first-person narratives. Each Saturday of the festival is a mini festival of its own flavor with multiple shows that build into an all-day celebration. Our goal is to create an inviting and uniquely Kaatsbaan experience for everyone to enjoy.”
Most performances are an hour or less, with the festival schedule designed to allow audiences to experience art, nature, and Tivoli’s downtown amenities throughout the day. Tickets and all-day passes are available at kaatsbaan.org/performances-festivals.
Calpulli Danza Mexicana. Photo courtesy artists