Gold Coast Dance Festival coming to Glen Cove

Movement and line, color and sound, story and emotion, and the almost unimaginable grace and athleticism of classically trained dancers can make audiences' hearts soar.

"The relationship between dance movements and music, and even sometimes words or poetry, can ignite. It can illuminate the mind and elevate one's longing for life and to experience life," said Da' Von Doane, a former principal dancer at Dance Theatre of Harlem, who's now a choreographer, teacher and artistic advisor. "I like to think of the stage as a canvas, and in dancing I'm leaving a relief of a painting or a mural on the stage."

Doane is one of about 20 world-class dancers who'll be bringing their artistry to Long Island's largest dance festival, the fourth annual Gold Coast Dance Festival at Morgan Memorial Park in Glen Cove on Aug. 10. The free two-hour event will include Doane's "Enigma" a participatory experience in which audience input informs the emotional, expressive journey of the dancer, that is one of five world premieres at the festival.

"I'm just floored," said Glen Cove's Nicole Loizides Albruzzese, originator and executive producer of the festival, as well as executive artistic director of Commack's Ohman School of Ballet and the affiliated New York Dance Theatre, the festival's sponsor. "This whole idea started on the floor of my living room in 2021," she said, recognizing the toll that pandemic closures were taking, "What can I do?" she thought. "People need to work. People need to experience. We need to talk. We need to discuss, and this is my way of giving back."

CULTURE AND A PICNIC

Loizides Albruzzese has carefully curated a multi-cultural, expansive and family-friendly event, and encourages people to bring a blanket, chair or picnic basket. "There's something for everyone," she promises. Along with classical and contemporary ballet, there's a dance that showcases movements from Japanese sword fighting. Huntington Station dancer Wendi Weng's performances often incorporate belly dance with traditional Chinese dance. Choreographer Fadi Khoury will debut a contemporary ballet with Latin ballroom and Middle Eastern flavors. Other premieres are Skyla Schreter's duet featuring Kyle Halford and Piper Makenzie Dye, both from Twyla Tharp; Keerati Jinakunwiphat's "Interstate," set to music from Led Zeppelin; and the centerpiece of the festival, Loizides Albruzzese's own creation, "Dance for Peace."

" 'Dance for Peace' is a new concept," Loizides Albruzzese said. "A lot of things for me are inspired by the need for collective community — for our mental health, for our physical health, for our emotional health … I thought why not a dance for peace?" She added, "It speaks so loudly to what we're celebrating in our 50th anniversary at the New York Dance Theatre."

In her piece, dancers rise and stretch their arms outwards and towards one another. "It is a connection from the heart," Loizides Albruzzese explained. "The dancers are giving of themselves. You feel it in the arm movements that connect their bodies to the ones that are in front of them, whether it's other participants or other audience members." She added, "The idea for 'Dance for Peace' is to bring people together and simply be that peace."

Loizides Albruzzese hopes to recruit 300 dancers — young and old, professional and amateur. If you're a dancer and you're interested, she says, "Come join us. Absolutely." Voluntary donations at the festival will fund New York Dance Theatre's Développé program, which organizes workshops and performances, and provides dance mentorships and scholarships for Long Island at-risk youths. "To make sure that every socioeconomic background has a chance to access dance in some way," she explained.

THE SPIRIT OF MEXICO

Andrea Guajardo is the artistic director of Ballet Nepantla, a company that fuses contemporary and Mexican folk dances. "Nepantla," she explained, is an Aztec-derived term that references "in-between-ness," something that resonates with Guajardo as a Mexican American. Her company is returning for its fourth time. "We're proud to take our work wherever we can and share our art, because no matter where we go, there are Mexican Americans, and they don't often get to see themselves represented on stage."

Look for traditional Folklorico costumes possibly paired with contemporary dance set to poetry. One piece, "Malagueña," starts with the female dancer doing contemporary movements and the male dancer performing traditionally. "Then she runs offstage for about 30 seconds and comes back with her hard shoes on and does the rest of the piece as a traditional dance. … This whole program is going to be so diverse," Guajardo said, "it shouldn't be missed."