Tango in Green-Wood

The permanent residents of Green-Wood Cemetery will have company again this weekend, company who knows how to dance.

The world premiere of “Dancing Through The Light: An Autumn Celebration,” a walking tour where visitors watch dance vignette performances composed of seven troupes of 28 dancers from the US, Argentina, Japan, India and other countries, will put on four performances from October 22 to 23.  

The ritual dances from all around the world will use Green-Wood Cemetery’s 478 acres of history, memorials, trees, lakes and carriage paths as a stage to illuminate the many cultures and traditions of those who have made Green-Wood their final resting place.

The two-and-a-half-hour long performance will include dancers, Karen Kriegel from World Dance Initiative and HoSun Kang of the Korean Traditional Music and Dance Institute, who will do Korean traditional dance next to the Irish Korean War Veterans Memorial, Strictly Tango NYC, who will do the Argentinean tango near a family of green monk parrots, a performance about immigration at a clearing with spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and more. 

This production, a collaboration of the Green-Wood Historic Fund in cooperation with Dance Parade, an NYC-based nonprofit organization, also includes Anabella Lenzu, a dance/drama troupe; 10tecomai, a Japanese dance company; Ring ‘O Bells New York, which specializes in the traditional Morris dance; the Hawaiian Kaina Quenga and the Indian dance troupe NYC Bhangra.

“From Hawaiian dance to the tango, audience members will feel the evanescence of life embodied in dance,” DJ McDonald of Dance Parade said. “Green-Wood’s peaceful and picturesque setting is the perfect stage… a place where family and friends can gather and join in the celebration of dance.”