River Dance Festival Coming To Bucks County This Weekend

NEW HOPE, PA — Roxey Ballet Company will bring together professional dance companies, independent choreographers, emerging artists and the next generation of dancers this weekend as the 2026 River Dance Festival takes the stage August 15–16 at Mill Ballet School in New Hope.

Featuring more than 30 performances across three distinct programs, the festival takes place Saturday, August 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, August 16 at 2 p.m.

At the heart of this year’s festival is Roxey Ballet’s continuing commitment to New Jersey artists and the state’s dance community.

The 2026 roster includes multiple artists and companies with documented New Jersey roots, including Allegory Dance Theatre, Extensions Dance Project and Bridget Ryan Dance Company, alongside Roxey Ballet and additional artists representing the greater region.

Extensions Dance Project, for example, identifies itself as a New Jersey-based company and is headquartered in Madison, Morris County, while Allegory Dance Theatre identifies itself with the southern New Jersey/Philadelphia region. Bridget Ryan, founder of Bridget Ryan Dance Company, is a New Jersey/New York-based choreographer whose work has been presented extensively throughout New Jersey.

For Roxey Ballet, River Dance Festival is more than a performance series. It is part of the company’s ongoing effort to create opportunities for New Jersey artists, expand the visibility of dance being created in the state, cultivate audiences, and connect artists across communities.

(Courtesy of Roxey Ballet)

By providing a professionally presented platform for established companies, independent choreographers and emerging artists, Roxey Ballet is able to leverage its organizational resources to benefit a broader community of dance makers.

“New Jersey has an extraordinary community of dance artists, and part of our responsibility is to create opportunities for those artists to be seen,” said Mark Roxey, Founder and Artistic Director of Roxey Ballet. “River Dance Festival allows us to open our doors to other voices, other companies and other forms of dance. We are creating a place where artists can perform, develop relationships, reach new audiences and strengthen the dance community together.”

The festival’s location in New Hope also creates an important interstate cultural bridge, bringing New Jersey artists to audiences immediately across the Delaware River while introducing Pennsylvania audiences to work being created by artists throughout New Jersey and the wider region.

That regional exchange reflects Roxey Ballet’s longstanding mission of Building Bridges Through Dance.

3 Unique Programs

Each performance features a different lineup, encouraging audiences to experience more than one program during the weekend.

The 2026 festival includes Allegory Dance Theatre, Angelina DiFranco, Bridget Ryan Dance Company, Canzonieri Dance Collective, Commuovere Dance, Dani Mungcal & Company, Extensions Dance Project, Jason Herbert Dance, Kayla E. Faynor and Company, La-Chelle M. Dickenson Choreography, Lauren Linder, Lisa Botalico Fiesta Flamenca, Neelima Raju Kakarlapudi Dance, Quantum Entanglement, Rhythmika – Beats From Soul, Dance From Spirit, Sama Dance Group, Svalyava, Teresa Barr-Mann, The Rogue Dancers, and additional individual artists.

Students from the Mill Ballet School Intensive Program will also perform, providing young dancers an opportunity to share the festival environment with professional and emerging artists.

The programming encompasses ballet, contemporary and modern dance, flamenco, culturally rooted dance traditions and original choreography, reflecting the diversity of today’s dance landscape.

The festival builds upon an initiative that welcomed more than 30 companies and independent artists in 2025, including participants from the tri-state region as well as artists traveling from Texas, Florida and California.

River Dance Festival demonstrates how a New Jersey arts organization can extend its impact beyond its own productions.

Through artist presentation, audience development, professional networking and opportunities for emerging artists, Roxey Ballet is helping strengthen the infrastructure that allows dance artists to create, perform and remain connected to the region.

The festival also provides a pathway between dance education, emerging artists and the professional field, giving developing dancers the opportunity to experience a professional festival environment while encountering a broad spectrum of artistic voices.

For Roxey Ballet, those relationships are fundamental to sustaining a healthy dance ecosystem in New Jersey and the Delaware River Valley.

River Dance Festival 2026

• Saturday, August 15 a 2 and 7 p.m.
• Sunday, August 16 at 2 pm.
  
• Mill Ballet School, 46 N. Sugan Road, New Hope

For tickets and information, click here.