Members of the Queensboro Dance Festival performing near the Queensboro Bridge. Photo courtesy of the Queensboro Dance Festival
Aug. 26, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
The Queensboro Dance Festival will hold its annual “Dancing with the Queens Stars” event early next month, featuring a line-up of local Queens leaders and locals participating as judges and contestants.
The community dance competition, a yearly fundraiser for Queensboro Dance Festival, will take place between 6 and 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, at the Queens Theatre Nebula Lobby in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
The competition features four teams of two dancers, pairing a professional dancer with a local community “star” for a 90-second duet.
Each team will perform a certain style of dance, including Team Jazz, Team Soca, Team Salsa and Team Folklórico, while the Queensboro Dance Festival dancers on each team are from dance companies who have been touring with the festival all summer.
The team with the highest score from a three-judge panel, consisting of Deputy Queens Borough President Ebony Young, local policymaker and cultural producer Gonzalo Casals and Dynasty Breaking NYC Co-founder Stephen “Rampage” Difede, will be crowned the winners on the night.
However, audience members will also be able to influence the final result by voting or by participating in the audience shout-out section, which enables members of the audience to comment and cheer on their favorite team.
Ticket-holders will also be treated to dinner and drinks from local Queens establishments and a youth exhibition-breaking battle by Astoria-based breakdance school Dynasty Breaking NYC. The evening will also feature a raffle, with a Queens “staycation” package among the top prizes.
Tickets for the event cost $100, with all proceeds from the gala going toward the dozens of free dance events, classes and professional development workshops that Queensboro Dance Festival holds every summer.
Karesia Batan, founding executive director of Queensboro Dance Festival, said in a statement that the event is unlike most other gala events.
“It’s not your typical gala, but it’s so fun, and engaging the Queens community this way resonates so strongly with our organization’s values of holistic community-building through dance,” Batan said.
Courtney Heyward, a community development specialist at Resorts World NYC who is competing in the event as a community star on Team Jazz, said she is excited to compete at the upcoming gala.
“I always dreamed of dancing in the spotlight since I was a young girl. I am inspired by Queensboro Dance Festival for their work incorporating and celebrating diverse dance styles and can’t wait to try something new,” Heyward said.
The competition consists of Team Soca, featuring Darren from Jamaica-based carNYval Dancers and Koeppel Hyundai Digital Brand Specialist Danesia; Team Jazz, featuring Heyward and Jamie from Forest Hills’ Drye/Marinaro Dance Company; Team Salsa, featuring Kallie from LIC’s Cucala Dance Company and Joanne, a speech pathologist at LIJ Forest Hills Northwell Health; and Team Folklórico, featuring Jasmin from LIC’s Manhatitlan Mexican Folkloric Group and YELP Queens community intern Lauren.
Tickets for the event are available here.
