A dance festival celebrating humanity and inclusivity is coming to Harvard Square

With four outdoor stages showcasing everything from ballet and folk to African, Indian, and Irish dance, the Dance for World Community Festival September 25 in Harvard Square serves as an unofficial kick-off celebrating — fingers crossed— the return to a full season of live dance. “We’re kind of ushering in the fall as a new beginning,” says José Mateo, whose José Mateo Ballet Theatre presents the festival, celebrating its 12th iteration, after being suspended last year because of COVID.

“The title of the festival this year is ‘Re-Emergence,’ [reflecting] the idea of coming out of this darker period of the past months more enlightened,” Mateo says. “I hope people will be less judgmental, more open-minded… more sensitive to the social dynamics we live in. “If we’re ever to achieve world community in this global environment, which we think is possible, we realize we have to be inclusive, to invite diversity — building community by representing the community.”

Read more @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/09/arts/harvard-square-uniting-humanity-through-dance/