Bay Area Dance Week — 10-day festival
- Dancers’ Group opened Bay Area Dance Week on Friday, April 24, with its public “One Dance” kickoff at Jessie Square in San Francisco, launching a 10-day festival of free classes, rehearsals and performances. - This year’s festival runs through May 3 and lists more than 150 free events around San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and other Bay Area cities, with styles from ballet to Bollywood. - Bay Area Dance Week began in 1998, and organizers say last year drew about 21,000 people to more than 150 events across the region. (7x7.com)
Bay Area Dance Week opened Friday, April 24, with Dancers’ Group’s “One Dance” kickoff at Jessie Square in San Francisco. (7x7.com) (rhythmandmotion.com) The 2026 festival runs for 10 days, from April 24 through May 3, and organizers say every listed event is free. (sf.funcheap.com) (broadwayworld.com) Listings published by Bay Area Dance Week show classes, workshops, performances and open rehearsals across San Francisco, the East Bay, the North Bay and the South Bay. (bopsidy.com) (sf.funcheap.com) 7x7 reported more than 150 free events this year, while Funcheap described the lineup as more than 100 events spread across the region. (7x7.com) (sf.funcheap.com) The kickoff centered on “One Dance,” a group routine led by Rhythm & Motion Artistic Director Dudley Flores and designed for people with no dance experience. (7x7.com) (rhythmandmotion.com) Rhythm & Motion said this year’s routine mixed “Makeba (Ian Asher remix)” by Jain with “Energy” by Mical Teja, followed by a 30-minute soul line dance class led by Oakland dancer Chocolate Platinum. (rhythmandmotion.com) The public calendar shows the range of forms on offer: beginner ballet in San Leandro, hip-hop at United Nations Skate Plaza in San Francisco, Philippine dance in South San Francisco, and folk dance in Berkeley. (bopsidy.com) Other featured events include Mark Foehringer Dance Project/SF’s “Dancing in the Park” in Golden Gate Park, Bollywood Nights at Salesforce Park, and Smuin Contemporary Ballet programming during the festival window. (7x7.com) (bopsidy.com) Bay Area Dance Week began in 1998, according to 7x7, and Rhythm & Motion says the festival has been part of the region’s dance community for 26 years. (7x7.com) (rhythmandmotion.com) Attendance has grown into the tens of thousands. 7x7 said about 21,000 people came to more than 150 events last year, while Ronnie’s Awesome List cited 16,500 attendees across 200 events. (7x7.com) (ronniesawesomelist.com) For this year, the through line is access: free entry, outdoor sites, neighborhood studios and a kickoff routine built for first-timers. The festival continues through Saturday, May 3. (sf.funcheap.com) (rhythmandmotion.com)
