Battery Dance Announces 50th Anniversary Gala

Battery Dance has announced its 50th Anniversary Gala, set for Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at The Rooftop at Edison Ballroom, 240 W. 47th Street, New York, NY. Cocktails begin at 6:30pm, with dinner and a performance at 7:30pm. Tickets to the gala start at $500 and can be purchased here.

The 50th Anniversary Battery Dance Gala will celebrate five decades of artistry, cultural diplomacy, and community engagement in New York City and around the world. This year, Battery Dance is delighted to recognize the outstanding contributions of Founder & Artistic Director Jonathan Hollander and honoree Victoria Phillips, Ph. D.

Join artists, supporters, and cultural leaders as they celebrate this important milestone with a three-course dinner and special performances by Battery Dance and its Dancing to Connect students.

ABOUT BATTERY DANCE

Battery Dance aims to create lasting social impact by increasing human understanding and improving lives through the universal expression of dance. Battery Dance performs on the world’s stages, teaches, presents, and advocates for the field of dance. The Company is dedicated to the pursuit of artistic excellence and the availability of the Arts to everyone. An integral part of the fabric of New York City since 1976, Battery supports the creative process; educates children in the New York City schools; enriches the general public through local programs and performances, national and international tours, and international arts exchange programs.

Based in Lower Manhattan, Battery Dance has produced over 125 original dance works choreographed by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Hollander, and guest choreographers, in collaboration with a diverse array of composers and designers, and its cast of outstanding dancers. Battery’s repertoire reveals a wide thematic and stylistic range. Presented in New York City and on tour in the U.S. and worldwide, Battery performances are characterized by choreography and music inspired by worldwide sources, reflecting American society and its multiplicity of cultures. Musical accompaniment, often commissioned, is a hallmark of the Company. The Company is among New York City’s foremost cultural ambassadors through its participation in international performing arts festivals, conferences and symposia throughout 70 countries on six continents. Through the award-winning Dancing to Connect program, the company uses dance as a tool for building social cohesion and resolving conflict throughout the world.

Battery Dance is a community-spirited presenter with the free annual Battery Dance Festival, introducing New Yorkers to over 350 dance companies in more than 40 years. In its Lower Manhattan home-base, equipped with two large studios, the Company provides subsidized rehearsal space for over 400 choreographers and dance companies each year. Through its arts-in-education programs in New York City public schools, Battery dancers serve as teaching artists in primary, middle and high schools throughout the five boroughs. Battery facilitates in-school performances and master classes by international visiting artists, providing first-hand introductions for many city school children to the cultures of the world. www.batterydance.org

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