CALL for
Dancers
CALL for
Dancers
2025 Queensboro Dance Festival
Call for dance submissions by Queens-based choreographers and dance groups closed March 10. Season will be announced in April!
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SUBMIT YOUR WORK
The 2025 QDF call for submissions by Queens-based
choreographers and dance groups is now closed.
Deadline: March 10, 2025
Questions during the submission period?
Submission Steps:
- 1. Click on the APPLY button above to bring you to the Queensboro Dance Festival application page on the online platform Submittable
- 2.Start a free Submittable log-in account, or log-in to your account if you have one already. You’ll be able to save and come back to your form while you work on it (Also with your Submittable account, you can also search for grants that use a Submittable platform by clicking “Discover.”)
- 3.Click on the form title “Queensboro Dance Festival Application.” Instructions and the form will appear below the title. Please read the application carefully!
- 4.
The form will autosave your work, but you can also save your application progress by pressing the “Save Draft” button at the bottom of the form. To get to your application again by logging into your Submittable account, and clicking on “Submissions”. Then you’ll find your application draft under “Saved Drafts.”
- 5.
If you have any questions about application content, please see our FAQs.
- 6.
For any technical issues with the Submittable platform or site pages, please contact support@submittable.com
What is the Queensboro Dance Festival?
The Queensboro Dance Festival is a summer (June-Sept) tour of performances and classes by Queens-based dances of diverse cultures & styles. We bring programming to Queens indoor and outdoor public venues including theaters, parks, plazas, and streets across the borough. We also feature QDF Dancebacks (audience dance lessons), choreographer talkbacks, and QDF Class Xchanges (professional classes for the dance community). See FAQs for Dancers.
All outdoor programming and most classes are free to the public, with the exception of our Season Finale at Queens Theater and any Master Class, which are all subsidized. Outdoor performances will also be live streamed on Instagram and YouTube. Performance and venue protocols will be in compliance with any current city or state COVID guidelines.
QDF aims to uplift Queens dancers & companies’ career endeavors in Queens by connecting them to local resources and expanding new audience reach. We encourage our Queens dance community to cultivate a following in Queens, experience the borough, and foster a sense of Queens pride!
2025 Queensboro Dance Festival
participants receive:
- $850 base pay tour participation fee per company
- Additionally paid teaching opportunities
- $100 company travel stipend
- Complimentary photo & video footage
- Complimentary physical therapy sessions during tour
- Access to free & discounted rehearsal spaces throughout Queens
- Free professional development workshops such as grantwriting, fiscal sponsorship, budgeting, or marketing based on your requests
- A direct network of Queens arts & culture career resources
- Master Classes
- Expanded audience reach and visibility
- Additionally paid opportunities to book other affiliated gigs
- An amazing summer experience of your home borough and community of Queens dancers! (continue scrolling below)
Submitting to QDF:
Participant Eligibility Overview
- Aligned with our mission, choreographer or company must be a resident in Queens with a Queens resident postal address (PO BOX not accepted). **Dance schools with professional companies welcome. Minors are not permitted to perform on tour; 18+ only. See FAQs for other ways youth dance schools can participate in the festival!
- Free to submit a dance proposal and free to participate in tour
- Professional or expert-level dance forms of all cultures and techniques welcome
- Disabled dance artists and integrated dance companies welcome
- BIPOC-led group or BIPOC majority dance cast, and/or Queens-based dance cast strongly encouraged
- Minimum 3 minutes of continuous, unedited video footage as a downloadable file (no YouTube, no Vimeo, no Google Drive links) of your entire proposed work is required with your application
- Flexible availability during submission period: In your submission form, select all possible dates you/your company are available to perform. If your submission is accepted, you will be assigned a schedule of approximately 5-6 performances from the available dates you selected
- Dances must be between 3-12 minutes maximum
- World and Queens premieres preferred
- Collaborations with Queens musicians encouraged
- Tour Commitment: 5-6 bookings total during the season , attendance in at least 2 QDF Class Xchanges and/or Professional Development workshops, and active engagement with your Queens dance community on tour
- A W9 will be required on behalf of the company to receive payments from Queensboro Dance Festival
Technology Requirements & Support
- Participants must have access to internet and to at least 1 device (cell phone, laptop, or tablet)
- Participants strongly recommended to have a Gmail e-mail address because information will be shared via Google Drive
- Participants strongly encouraged to have their own Instagram and Facebook account (free)
- Participants must have a Paypal account (free)
- QDF can help with internet support, device support, space, or offer social media training as needed
QDF allowed me to share my work with my community directly. As a choreographer, building a loyal fan base is difficult and QDF provided access to dance in a way few festivals do. Thank you!
QDF has been a platform for me to share my work with more people, and gather more opportunities from the folks who came to see QDF. I am forever thankful.