WESTFEST Dance Festival

WESTFEST, co-founded 11 years ago by Westbeth residents Carol Nolte and Geo Cominskie, is and annual and cutting edge curated dance festival which presents emerging and established movement artists.

Programs feature visionary dancers and choreographers in a variety of settings including a traditional theater setting and many unconventional and unique alternative spaces throughout the Westbeth Artists Housing complex. Current performances are designed to be seen online.

REVIEWS

New York Times
…the cumulative effect of encountering performance in Westbeth’s idiosyncratic nooks and crannies was marvelous. Bodies animate architecture as much as they are animated by it, and Westbeth’s artistic ghosts provide fertile ground for chance encounters.

Dance Enthusiast.com
Now in its ninth season, WestFest celebrates the diverse choreographic voices of the city and provides an opportunity for the public to see over 30 artists in both conventional and site-specific spaces. In a festival format, it is a welcome surprise to discover artists whose work you must have more of.

HOW TO APPLY

Every year a Call for Entries is made usually in January which is published on the Westbeth website, E Blasted to the general public, and is overseen by the WESTFEST Dance Festival team.
FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON ENTRIES, SUBMISSIONS AND MORE, GO TO: Westfestdance.com/

RECENT WESTFEST DANCE FESTIVALS


2021
Livestreamed On Site and Online
Program A Saturday May 1 4PM TruDee emcee, BOiNK! Dance & Film, Martha Graham II, Zachary Frazee, Rachael Lieblein-Jurbala, Madison wada, Emily Laird.

Program B Sunday May 2 4PM TruDee emcee, Carol Nolte/Dance Collective, Rush Johnston Kaleid Dance Collective, Dual Rivet, Anne Goldberg-Baldwin, Pauline Gervais, Mira Göksel, Catherine Gallant.


2020
The first WESTFEST Dance Festival performances completely on line.
Program A – Saturday 11/14 – 4PM EST BOiNK! Dance & Film, Digital Movement Dance, Angie Moon Dance Theatre & Benny Krown , Here’s T(w)o Collective, Andrea Ward, Dual River, BK dance project,
Martha Graham Company.

Program B – Sunday 11/15 – 4PM EST Carol Nolte/Dance Collective, The Bang Group, Elizabeth Burr Dance, Soluq Dance,TruDee, Rachael Lieblein-Jurbala Dance Works, mignolo dance – Charly Santagado, Jamal Jackson Dance Company


2019
Program A – Thursday, April 25th and Saturday, April 27th at 8PM – includes artists Carol Nolte/Dance Collective, danceTactics performance group / Keith A. Thompson, Amos Pinhasi, Claire Porter / PORTABLES, Choreographer My Lindblad Szlavik (SE/DK), Chloe London Dance, Benjamin Freedman, and Li Chiao-Ping/Li Chiao-Ping Dance.

Program B – Friday, April 26th and Sunday, April 28th at 8PM – includes artists BOiNK! Dance & Film, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, The Bang Group, LMnO3 (Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis, and Donnell Oakley), HUMA, Ramona Sekulovic, Louise Benkelman & Tommy Seibold, and Abarukas.


2018
Program A – Thursday, April 26th and Saturday, April 28th – includes artists Manuel Vignoulle – M/motions, Breton Follies, Chelsea Ainsworth & Doron Perk, Amos Pinhasi, Charlotte Settle & Jack Blackmon, LAJAMARTIN, Carol Nolte, and Guest Artist Claire Porter.

Program B – Friday April 27th and Sunday, April 29th – includes artists Ashley Minestrina, Madeline Kurtz, Dian Peterson Sans Limites Dance, Amanda Hameline Dance, mollymingeyprojects, Baye & Asa, and Guest Artist David Parker & The Bang Group.


2017
On Thursday April 27 and Saturday April 29, WestFest Top Floor will feature works by Amos Pinhasi, Madison Hicks, B.U.M.P. (Button Universal Movement Project), MMDC/Mari Meade Dance Collective, ChristinaNoel & the Creature, NSquared Dance Company, Carol Nolte/Dance Collective and Amanda Hameline Dance

On Friday April 28, and Sunday April 30, WestFest Top Floor will feature works by Jeff Sykes, Dance Traveler by Young Hoon Oh, Donnell Oakley Makes Dances, Jerica Niehoff, Alethea Pace and Trezon Dancy.

Read Carol Nolte’s story about the founding of the WestFest Dance Festival on Westbeth Chronicles.


CAROL NOLTE Artistic Director, Co-Founder
Co-founded WESTFEST 10 years ago as a response to the financial strain of the recession, offering choreographers free or low-cost performance opportunities at the Westbeth Artisits’ Residence, her home for the last 30 years. She has also created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals, DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently, WestFest.

GEORGE COMINSKIE Executive Producer, Co-Founder
has been the executive producer of WestFest and the Pen Literary Quest since its inception in 2010. George currently serves on the Westbeth Board of Directors. Mr. Cominskie served on the Westbeth Artists Residents Council for 21 years, 17 of them as President of WARC. He also serves on an advisory committee of The Whitney Museum of American Art and Pier 55. He has been a Wednesday morning volunteer at God’s Love We Deliver for the past 22 years. He lives at Westbeth with his husband John Turner.

WESTFEST Dance Festival is supported by LMCC, New York City Council Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Westbeth Artists Residents Council.

For more information on WestFest Dance Festival, go to Westfestdance.com

PHOTOS