Dance takes center stage in Lincoln Center’s ‘Summer for the City’

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) announces Summer for the City, running June 10 – August 8, 2026, inviting New Yorkers and visitors to a season centered on movement, community, and international artistry.

Now in its fifth year, the Festival reaffirms Lincoln Center’s commitment to advancing the arts as a force for inspiration, connection, and as central to thriving communities. A vibrant range of dance, music, and multidisciplinary performance uplift extraordinary artists from around the world and around the corner.

Dance takes center stage in the 2026 season, spanning a rich range of forms, traditions and contemporary voices. One of the most anticipated highlights of the summer is the launch of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance, which includes the inaugural Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival in Alice Tully Hall. The festival will welcome five international companies and feature two U.S. premieres alongside two New York premieres. Also debuting is Dance Encounters, a new outdoor contemporary dance series on Hearst Plaza spotlighting New York-based companies and presenting three new commissions.

Summer for the City opens on Wednesday, June 10 with a triple bill of dance performances and celebrations. Opening night audiences can experience KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody, a community dance work featuring 30 New Yorkers, Inayat: A Duet for Four, which merges two ancient North Indian performance traditions, and a lively swing dance party led by Caleb Teicher & Company with the Eyal Vilner Big Band.

The summer season also welcomes the return of the popular BAAND Together Dance Festival, as well as the beloved social dance series featuring swing, hip-hop, salsa, ballroom and more. Silent discos under the stars will once again animate Josie Robertson Plaza, inviting audiences to dance late into the evening.

Across the season, nine new commissions will premiere, underscoring Lincoln Center’s commitment to new artistic creation. Highlights include three commissions presented through Dance Encounters, featuring works by Shen Wei and Vangeline, along with With Love, a film commission and world premiere by Eichterling as part of the Movement on Film: Athletic Shorts series. Additional commissions include new works by Billy Childs, Hannah Ishizaki and Jessie Montgomery with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, a new iteration of KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody created specifically for Lincoln Center and the surrounding community, Du Yun’s The Ocean Etched in the Forest (刻在森林的海), and Declaration by acclaimed American pianist Lara Downes.

International artistry remains a defining feature of the 2026 Festival, with programming that celebrates artists and cultures from around the globe. New Yorkers can look forward to Chinese Arts Week from July 22–29, Ruidosa Fest on July 12, globalFEST on August 1, K-Pop Dance Night on July 1, Brazil Day on July 9, Jamaica Day on August 8, and many more events throughout the summer.

The World at Play at Lincoln Center series celebrates the global spirit of soccer and the intersections of arts and sports. Live concerts and dance parties honor global soccer cultures and communities, while freestyle soccer performers showcase their skills and lead family-friendly workshops. The series also includes a film series curated by Film at Lincoln Center, and World Club DJ nights curated by Bill Coleman—featuring DJs from around the world and across New York City.

“Summer for the City carries forward Lincoln Center’s founding promise to enliven New York with arts for all – inviting everyone to experience the fullest expression of art and community,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “This year, that energy feels more alive than ever, with dance at the center, artists from around the world, and moments of connection unfolding across our campus. We look forward to welcoming New Yorkers and visitors alike to discover something new and experience the joy, creativity, and community that make this global city extraordinary.” 

Collaborations with resident arts organizations across Lincoln Center continue to be a cornerstone of Summer for the City. The 2026 Festival includes collaborations with Film at Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and the School of American Ballet.

This summer also sees the return of Summer Forum: Moving the Field Forward, a five-day celebratory convening that brings together teaching artists and educators from around the world. Through Lincoln Center Education’s signature immersive workshops and hands-on labs, participants explore the power of imaginative thinking, the intersections of the arts across schools and civic spaces, and new possibilities for advancing arts education.

Each summer, Lincoln Center’s outdoor spaces transform through designs by Artist-in-Residence and Summer for the City Visual Director Clint Ramos, inviting New Yorkers to come together, unwind, and share unforgettable artistic experiences under the open sky. This year unveils an entirely new design inspired by the season’s focus on dance, with the Revson Fountain – featuring a newly commissioned fountain show – and the Dance Floor as its centerpiece under the dynamic lighting designs of David Weiner.

“This summer, the campus itself becomes choreography – a landscape of movement, light, and discovery across the sands of time,” said Clint Ramos, LCPA Artist-in-Residence and Summer for the City Visual Director.

The Festival celebrates the key role of the arts in our individual and collective wellbeing with the continuation of the Art of Wellbeing series – a pop-up wellness studio that harnesses the power of art to engage the mind, body, and spirit with free guided meditations, movement-based workshops, and more, accompanied by live music from world-class performers, and presented in collaboration with New York-Presbyterian, the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The summer also shines a light on disabled artists, with the return of Big Umbrella Day; comedy nights curated by The Squeaky Wheel, a series in the Atrium curated by disabled multi-disciplinary artist Jerron Herman, and more. Events throughout the summer are inclusively designed, integrating access needs with a range of accommodations for select performances and upon request – from ASL interpretation to audio description, live captioning, relaxed performances and more.

LCPA is dedicated to making the arts accessible to the widest possible audience. The majority of Summer for the City events are free, and select indoor performances are Choose-What-You-Pay starting at $5.

Choose-What-You-Pay tickets go on sale to Lincoln Center members on Wednesday, May 13 at 12pm and to the general public on Wednesday, May 20 at 12pm. All free events are General Admission, first-come, first-served unless otherwise noted. Fast Track reservations are available for select free events on Mondays at noon for that week’s events at LincolnCenter.org/FastTrack.

A link to the online event calendar can be found at SummerForTheCity.org.

The post Dance takes center stage in Lincoln Center’s ‘Summer for the City’ appeared first on Dance Informa Magazine.