Making Moves Dance Festival 2025: Three Days of Culture, Healing, and Community

JCAL’s 15th Annual Making Moves Dance Festival celebrated culture, healing, and community with vibrant performances by Baila Society and Navatman.

The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) recently concluded the 15th Annual Making Moves Dance Festival (MMDF2025), a dynamic three-day celebration of cultural expression, healing, and community strength. This year’s festival attracted record audiences, cementing its status as a New York City highlight and celebration of the arts.

This year’s festival featured a special collaboration between Baila Society and Navatman titled “The Seed,” which explored powerful themes of collective care, identity, and safety. Returning from a sold-out run of “Roots of Resilience” at the Rose Nagelburg Theatre, these acclaimed groups use dance as a powerful medium for community dialogue and healing. Baila Society’s vibrant choreography celebrates Afro-

Caribbean rhythms and stories, emphasizing connection and cultural safety. Navatman’s Indian classical dance delves into resilience across generations, fostering reflection and empowerment.

“The Seed,” co-created by choreographers Sahasra Sambamoorthi and Ahtoy Juliana, featured principal dancers Jessica Ho and Edwin Tolentino and served as a festival centerpiece. It is an original intercultural performance work that brings together Afro-Cuban salsa and Bharatanatyam in a choreographic and musical conversation. Rather than aiming for fusion, The Seed is intentionally framed as a dialogue. The piece honors the integrity of each form while embracing the generative tension that arises in collaboration.

Baila Society and Navatman have announced that as a result of the piece’s resounding success at MMDF2025, “The Seed” will be developed into a full-length production, offering a model for how diasporic traditions can engage in meaningful exchange without erasure or flattening.

Alla Bronskaya
Baila Society