Dance Festival Raises Record $169K
Volume 49, Issue 7
By Mike Lavers
Photos by Nicole Pressly

A backdrop of surreal mist thanks to the persistent pea soup fog and humidity that blanketed the island this past weekend was the perfect setting for the 11th annual Fire Island Dance Festival (FIDF) in the Fire Island Pines. Beau Clarke and DJ Tony Moran hosted the two-day festival, which is the signature event for the New York-based Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), at their bay front home, which was transformed into an amphitheater and stage with sweeping views of the Great South Bay.

More than 40 dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Washington Ballet, the Cedar Lake Ensemble, Momix and more than half a dozen other world-renowned dance companies participated in the event. And Michael Benjamin Washington, the cross-dressing butler/maid in the Broadway revival of “La Cage aux Folles,” emceed the festival as his sassy and fabulously dressed alter-ego Miss Mahogany: the Ebony Enchantress alongside a faux-blonde Alan Cumming of “Cabaret.”

The festival spanned three separate performances and the highlights were many. Timothy Bish of Billy Joel’s quintessential Long Island-themed “Movin’ Out” and Tony James of “The Lion King” performed an intimate and highly passionate duet titled “Heart Tides.” Aside from giving Merlot colored trunks a whole new meaning, Bish, who had danced in the FIDF twice before, told The News that the piece, which he and James choreographed along with Cornelius Carter, was inspired by tempestuous and complicated interactions between two lovers that he had observed.

“We wanted to show that the person you love the most is the person who drives you crazy the most,” Bish said.

Intimate relationships between people were a common thread that ran the gamut from the symbolic to deeply personal throughout the festival. And perhaps the most poignant expression of this reality came as dancer and choreographer Martin Lofsnes performed his piece, “ Phoenix,” in honor of his parents who lost their lives to AIDS.

Another powerful—and arguably the most physically demanding—performance was Terry Dean Bartlett and Katie Workum’s “Dance for a Girl.” Workum, clad in a sleek and sophisticated black dress, portrayed an unimpressed and a cannot-be-bothered cellist as a cocky, yet wide-eyed Bartlett entered into a marathon series of back flips in a desperate attempt to win her affection. In the end, Workum finally responded to his over-the-top advances and moved to kiss Bartlett when, in a humorous but somewhat unexpected twist, Bartlett collapsed.

Everyone, including Miss Mahogany, could not help but throw in their two cents and offer Bartlett some much needed advice.

“I am not a dance critic, but heterosexual men should ask a question and wait for a response,” she joked.

Personal advice aside, DRA, a fundraising arm of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA), raised a record $169,000 over the weekend and Bartlett joined others in praising the group and its continued outreach and advocacy efforts.

“It is great to be part of this show,” Bartlett said. “[AIDS] isn’t just a gay disease.”

Miss New York 2005 Kandace Pelletier, herself a Radio City Rockette, agreed.

“Supporting the Broadway community and AIDS awareness is something that is very important to me,” she said shortly before the July 17 performances began.

The FIDF began in 1995 when choreographer and DRA Founding Director Hernando Cortez organized a series of performances at the Pines home of Stan Howard and Filoteo Maningat to raise money for DRA. More than a decade later, the festival has evolved into one of the world’s premiere dance festivals and a fundraising tour de force that has raised millions of dollars for HIV and AIDS outreach and prevention groups across the country.

BCEFA Executive Director Tom Viola was quick to praise both the FIDF committee and DRA for their ongoing efforts to fight the epidemic.

“I am really proud of this event,” he said. “[But] we couldn’t do it without the generosity of the community.”

Ariadne Villareal, producing director for DRA, lauded Pines residents and businesses owners who opened their homes to the dancers along with serving nearly 800 meals, providing 1,000 bottles of water and 174 ferry tickets for supporting the festival for more than a decade. And she announced that she is already thinking about next year’s event and the possibility of an island-wide performance.

“We are very, very, very proud of what we do,” Villareal said.

Cumming shared these sentiments as he reaffirmed DRA’s mantra for the day when AIDS would be defeated.

“At the end of this, when we find a cure to AIDS, we will dance for joy,” Cumming said. “Until then we will dancefor a cure.”