Watch this traditional dance form with modern twists by nine performing groups from around the northeast. The festival features both mystical, stately longsword and vigorous rapper sword dancing, with live music on fiddle, accordion, and other instruments. In both types of sword dance, the dancers are linked in a ring by the “swords” they hold in their hands while they work as a team to weave intricate figures and patterns without breaking the circle.

The dances take place at libraries, schools, churches and other venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Saturday, February 17th

10am OPENING SHOWCASE – All Teams
Speyer Hall at University Settlement
184 Eldridge Street, Manhattan

1:30pm Brooklyn Heights Library
286 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn

1:30pm Seward Park Library
192 East Broadway, Manhattan

1:30 and 3:30pm Pacific Library
25 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn

3:30pm Jefferson Market Library
425 Sixth Avenue, Manhattan

3:30pm Park Slope Library
431 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn

Sunday, February 18th, 2024

12:30pm The Gray Mare
61 Second Avenue, Manhattan

12:30pm Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
58 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn

12:45pm Old First Reformed Church
729 Carroll Street, Brooklyn

2:30pm GRAND FINALE – All Teams Brooklyn Waldorf School
11 Jefferson Avenue, Brooklyn