Montclair will host the inaugural day-long Dance Festival on May 31st at Montclair State University. Hosted by Freespace Dance, the event will celebrate the schools, artists, and professional dance companies throughout New Jersey. Keep reading for more details on the first-ever Montclair Dance Festival.

2025 Montclair Dance Festival Details

For the first time, Freespace Dance, an NJ-based nonprofit professional dance company, is hosting the Montclair Dance Festival to highlight a variety of dance genres, performed by the best dance artists and ensembles throughout New Jersey. The day-long ticketed event will take place at Montclair State University on May 31st.

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The day is broken into two parts. The afternoon session will be from 2PM to 5:30PM in the MSU outdoor amphitheater, free for the public to enjoy. Then at 7:30PM, the event will move indoors to the MSU Kasser Theater, charging $25 to continue watching the performances. The tickets, required for both events, can be acquired separately via the website.

Freespace Dance

The host of the event, Freespace Dance, has been a leading arts education center in New Jersey for 21 years. Directed by Donna Scro Samori and Lisa Grimes Arndt, the nonprofit organization was awarded a Special Project Grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to create the festival. “Up to 30 dance groups will perform during the day and 10 professional companies in the evening,” say festival producers Donna Scro Samori and Lisa Grimes Arndt via a a statement. They also shared, “despite being home to 10 higher-level academic programs in dance, innumerable private studios, traditional and folk dance groups, and 40+ professional dance companies, New Jersey does not have its own dance festival. We believe it needs one!”

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