Kaatsbaan Opens Its 2026 Festival with a Full Day of Dance, Food, and Grammy-Nominated Music

Saturday, August 29, gates 10:30am, activities through dusk | Tivoli, NY | Free community activities; performance tickets $15–$25

Kaatsbaan Cultural Park opens its 2026 Annual Festival on August 29, with the first of several weekend-long mini-festivals, this one structured like a community fair—free workshops and activities, self-guided audio experiences, food vendors, and visual art alongside a full slate of ticketed performances running from mid-afternoon into the evening. Festival curator Michèle Steinwald says she wants visitors to linger and take their time, spending entire days wandering between performances, exhibitions, and Tivoli's downtown businesses rather than treating the day as a single scheduled event.

The performance lineup runs through the afternoon and evening on the Mountain Stage and Mountain Field. At 1pm, Calpulli Danza Mexicana performs "Native Mexico: Dances of the First Peoples." At 3pm, Ballez stages "Travesty Doll Play (after Coppélia)" in the Black Box Theater, its choreographic reimagining of the 1870 story ballet centering the relationship between a Doll-maker and his creations. At 5pm, choreographer Anna Sperber's "Bow Echo" plays outdoors on Mountain Field, using the landscape itself as part of the score. The day closes at 7pm with a concert by Valerie June.

Opening day activities start at 11am and are free: a bike maintenance workshop with choreographer and social practice artist Laura Curry, wampum belt artmaking with Vickie Ramirez, Ty Defoe, and Jeanette Harrison, and a lacrosse stick handling clinic with the Bard College Women's Lacrosse team. Curry's ongoing project, "Cita en Bici / Bike Date"—built from a decade of research turning bike rides into conversation across communities of women and fem/trans cyclists throughout the Americas—continues through the festival in partnership with Tivoli Free Library, with rides bookable directly with the artist on-site or by email.

The sixth annual Visual Arts Exhibition, "Earthly Delights," curated by Hilary Greene, runs on the grounds and in the Lobby Gallery through September 12, featuring Aurora Robson, Gaston Lachaise, Ian McMahon, Portia Munson, Thea Berman, Sharon Broit, Laura Battle, Kris Perry, Nadia Yaron, and Virginia L. Montgomery. A separate Performance Lending Library offers a curated set of audio-guided physical experiences under 30 minutes each, available free throughout the festival for anyone with a smartphone and headphones.

Food vendors set up in front of the Studio Complex throughout the day: Yeah Dawg (vegan hot dogs) from 11am to 5pm, Samosa Shack (vegetarian Indian food) from noon to 3:30pm, and Vanroy's Caribbean Grill from 4 to 7:30pm.

Single performance tickets are $25 general, $15 students. Same-day combo packages bring costs down further—a two-performance combo runs $40 ($25 students), a three-performance combo (available only on August 29) runs $50 ($30 students), and adding an evening concert ticket to any combo takes an additional $10 off.

Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, 120 Broadway, Tivoli, NY. Full schedule and tickets at kaatsbaan.org.