Rendering by Evan Alexander
One of the neighborhood’s biggest summer traditions is back this week, and getting in on opening day won’t cost a thing — not the storytimes, not the dance performances, not the late-night party that runs until well after dark.
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Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City returns for its fifth year on Wednesday, June 10, with a full slate of free events and activities for all ages spread across Josie Robertson Plaza and Hearst Plaza. The campus once again gets a visual overhaul from Artist-in-Residence Clint Ramos, whose new installations frame The Dance Floor at the center of the action. We broke down the full season back in April. Since launching in 2022, the festival has drawn more than 1.6 million visitors to the 16-acre campus.Opening day starts gently and builds all the way to a silent disco. Pianist and composer Antonio Truyols leads a family-friendly Music Storytime at David Geffen Hall at 11 a.m., with a second session at 1 p.m. The dance programming takes over the plazas in the afternoon: at 4:30 p.m., KEIGWIN + COMPANY presents Rhapsody, a community work performed by 40 multigenerational New Yorkers — dancers and non-dancers alike — on Josie Robertson Plaza. At 5 p.m., Inayat: A Duet for Four brings an outdoor performance merging two ancient North Indian traditions to Hearst Plaza, featuring the musicians of SAZ and dancer Tarini Tripathi.
The night belongs to The Dance Floor. At 6:30 p.m., choreographer Caleb Teicher & Company team up with the Eyal Vilner Big Band for a Swing Dance Party on Josie Robertson Plaza, kicking off with a swing lesson before the social dancing begins. Then at 10 p.m., the season’s first Silent Disco gets going with DJ Ethan Tomas, who brings his popular Brooklyn party GINJA to the plaza.
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This year’s festival runs through August 8 and mixes free events with Choose-What-You-Pay programming starting at $5, spanning music from classical to contemporary, plus dance, theater, comedy, poetry, family programming and global food offerings. Dance takes center stage in 2026 with the launch of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance, which anchors both the new Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival in Alice Tully Hall and Dance Encounters, an outdoor contemporary dance series on Hearst Plaza. The full calendar is at SummerForTheCity.org.Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
