Year: 2026-2027
DanceForce Member: Sukanya Burman
Partnering DanceForce Member: Ivan Sygoda
Artists: Troy Lingelbach; Music from the Sole; Sun Kim Dance Theatre
Community Partners: Chautauqua County Government; Chautauqua Region Community Foundation; Jamestown Community College; Jamestown Farmers Market; Jamestown Justice Coalition; Jamestown Pride; Jamestown Skate Products; Live CHQ; New Neighbors Coalition; Reg Lenna Center for the Arts; Robert H. Jackson Center; Wegmans; YWCA Jamestown
Audience: 1,182
Counties: Chautauqua; Monroe
The Jamestown Dance Festival (JDF) is a multi-day dance and performance festival produced by Sukanya Burman Dance in downtown Jamestown, New York. Taking place September 8–13, the Festival brings together nationally recognized guest artists, regional choreographers, and local performers for a week of performances, workshops, and community engagement activities that expand access to high-quality dance experiences in Chautauqua County while also drawing visitors from neighboring cities and regions.
In 2026, with new county support, the Festival will expand its programming through the addition of a downtown Block Party event, inviting community performance artists and local creatives to participate. This new element strengthens the Festival’s commitment to accessibility, public celebration, and deeper community involvement.
Featured principal artists/companies for the 2026 Festival include Sun Kim Dance Theatre, presenting the dance theatre work Alien of Extraordinary, and interdisciplinary circus and performance artist Troy Lingelbach, creator of the autobiographical solo work International Lover. The Festival is also in conversation with Music From The Sole as a potential third anchor company, which would further strengthen the Festival’s artistic scope. These artists will appear alongside additional regional artists Rik Daniels and Jim Self from Ithaca, Nancy Hughes and Michaela “M” McNeild from Buffalo, and local dance makers, offering audiences a wide range of contemporary performance forms and culturally diverse movement traditions.
Festival activities will include ticketed mainstage performances, artist-led workshops, a film screening, panel discussions, and a community mixer designed to foster dialogue and connection between artists, audiences, and partner organizations. Events will be hosted in collaboration with key regional venues and partners, including the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, Jamestown Community College, and other community-based organizations like the Robert H. Jackson Center, Jamestown Skate Park, New Neighbors Coalition and Jamestown Farmer’s Market to name a few.
The Jamestown Dance Festival serves a broad cross-section of Jamestown and Chautauqua County residents, with particular attention to rural communities, youth, immigrant populations, LGBTQ+ audiences, and individuals who have limited access to professional dance programming. At the same time, the Festival has begun attracting audiences traveling from across Western New York and nearby Pennsylvania and Ohio, contributing to Jamestown’s visibility as a cultural hub.
The Festival is expected to reach an estimated 800–1,200 audience members over the course of the week through performances, workshops, and community events.
The significance of the Jamestown Dance Festival lies in its role as a growing platform for cultural equity, artistic exchange, and creative vitality in an under-resourced region. It also provides a highly visible platform for regional and local artists, offering them the opportunity to present their work in a professional context and connect with broader audiences beyond their immediate communities.
The Festival will also mark the first Upstate New York performance for Sun Kim Dance Theatre, an emerging New York City–based company, expanding access to their work and introducing regional audiences to a distinctive dance theatre voice.
Support from partnering Dance Force member Ivan Sygoda will directly contribute to supporting aerial dance artist Troy Lingelbach’s activities in Western New York State beyond the Festival, strengthening year-round opportunities for their interdisciplinary performance of “International Lover”.