The 30th annual Flurry festival takes place on President’s Weekend, running from Feb. 17-19 at various locations in Saratoga Springs.
Many events will take place at Saratoga Springs City Center and Saratoga Hilton Hotel, with more performances and workshops scheduled at Saratoga Music Hall, Café Lena, the Parting Glass Pub, and the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
The Flurry is well-known winter weekend ever for dancers and music lovers of all ages, featuring more than 400 performers and over 250 events.
To celebrate the 30th annual festival, there will be a special Sunday night after-party. Traditionally, Flurry Festival ends at 6 p.m. on Sunday. This year it is extended for three more hours of contra, swing, zydeco, and urban dance parties.
Flurry 2017 will officially end at 9 p.m. on the Feb. 17.
Events this year will include a lineup of programs for families with young children, many. There will be international music, singing, jamming, storytelling and dance events.
Young children will be busy with simple fun family dances, traditional square dancing, international family dancing, international and interactive storytelling, active movement games, sing-a-longs and more.
Teens will have their very own youth-only contra dance, youth-only Irish set dance, techno contra dances, teen-level sing-a-longs and story tellings, a teen talent showcase, teen jam session, world dance for teens, hip hop, house dance, improvisational dance, and unlimited contra dancing, swing dancing, and international experiences with music, song, and dance.
Festival goers of all ages will experience a major lineup of international music and dance experiences.
This year, for the first time ever, Flurry is welcomes Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation leader Cedric Goodhouse of the tribe Hunkpapa Lakota, and chairman of the Long Soldier District of Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation and Oscar-nominated director Fidel Moreno.
Goodhouse and his family will be leading a songs of the northern plains native people and music and dances of the northern tribes. Moreno’s film “Gathering Our Hearts at Standing Rock” will be shown at the Saratoga Arts Council.
Along with the traditional weekend filled with contra and swing, programming will also include dance styles such as Tahitian, flamenco, Bulgarian, African, Chinese, Irish, Yiddish, Scottish, Greek, hip hop, tap, and more.
Instruction is available for beginner level on up and there is no need to bring a partner.
For non-dancers, there will be jamming, music instruction workshops, concerts, storytelling, demonstrations and special dance performances to watch.
There will be music instruction and jamming for guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, ukulele, percussion.
Vendors will be on hand with dance wear, including shoes, and there will be a variety of food options available.
Advance tickets are available online until Feb. 10th. Tickets are available at the door all weekend long. People can come for the day or stay all weekend.
To see a full schedule of events and learn more about the festival, visit www.flurryfestival.org.