Summer Dance Festival

As Grand Rapids Ballet continues celebrating 50 years of lifting the human spirit through the art of dance, we are hosting a FREE, outdoor Summer Dance Festival! Taking place Friday, August 26, and Saturday, August 27, 2022, Grand Rapids Ballet welcomes West Michigan to enjoy two evenings of world-class dance, tasty food, and beer and wine all under the evening skies outside of the Peter Martin Wege Theatre.

The free festivities kick off at 5 p.m. each evening, starting with fresh food from our partner food trucks, including Taste of Toyas (Friday evening), Around Baking (Saturday evening), Patty Matters (Saturday evening), Frostbite Shaved Ice (both nights), and Ice Box Ice Cream (both nights), plus cold brews from Beer City’s best breweries.

Our outdoor stage will open for the first performance at 6 p.m., featuring classical ballet favorites and contemporary works performed by Grand Rapids Ballet’s company dancers, apprentices, and trainees. Building our future generation of dance, the evening also will feature performances from Grand Rapids Ballet School students.

To celebrate dancers and different styles of dance from across the Mitten state, GRB is hosting various community dance partners who also will perform throughout the event, including Dancespire, Deos Contemporary Ballet, Edgar L. Page, Golden Tiger Kung Fu Academy (Aug. 27), Grand Valley State University, Los Huapangeros De Grand Rapids (Aug. 26), Ray Love, and Traverse City Dance Project (Aug. 27). More community partners may be announced leading up to the festival.