Flurry Festival returns to Saratoga Springs this weekend

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Get your dancing shoes on and make your way to the Spa City because The Flurry Festival is happening this weekend.

The Flurry Festival is a celebration of music and dance, be it from America or from around the globe.

Genes include swing, blues, contra, square dancing, Cajun, Zydeco, English country, Balkan, Scandinavian, Latin, Scottish, tango, fusion, international, Irish, balfolk, African and Appalachian – providing Saratogians and visitors a platform to learn, dance, watch, listen, and participate in workshops, dance lessons, scheduled and impromptu jam sessions, as well as family events for all ages.

It isn’t just dancing though, attendees can enjoy singing sessions, instrument workshops, family programming, jams, storytelling, group singing, concerts and more.

“Definitely the breadth of different genres that we offer,” said past President and current Flurry Festival Administrative Director Shira Love regarding what makes this festival unique compared to others. “Most festivals of this nature focus on just one or two musical styles — there are a lot of swing festivals, there are a lot of contra dance weekends, but the Flurry incorporates so many different styles of dance and music, that people who are maybe experienced and used to doing one thing can come and get their fill of that and at the same time try out many new things that they have never experienced before and learn because we have so much instruction.”

“I’d say also just how friendly and welcoming the festival is to people at so many different skill levels also sets us apart. So many festivals are mostly for people who are very experienced and that’s the expectation of the culture, but the flurry is so beginner friendly, that anyone can jump in wherever they’re at and participate at whatever level is comfortable to them.”

The 36th Annual Flurry Festival is taking place from 7 p.m. to 1:45 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 16; 9 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18, at: Saratoga City Center & Hilton Hotel, 522/534 Broadway and other venues in Saratoga Springs. A full schedule of events, locations and times can be found on The Flurry Festival website.

Since 1994 The Flurry has been a major economic contributor to the City of Saratoga Springs. With participants coming from around the world to participate, Love shared that the City truly welcomes everyone and it becomes such an incredible and welcoming atmosphere.

“The city of Saratoga Springs has been our home for many years now and it feels like over Flurry weekend the city just kind of transforms into this little community of people who are just high energy and happy and taking their positive experiences from the Flurry out into the town and spreading that around,” Love said.

“Our attendees tend to go out for dinner and patronize the restaurants, people love just walking around downtown and experiencing everything that Saratoga has to offer. It’s a great symbiotic relationship with the town having so much for Flurry attendees, and then for the attendees to bring their patronage to the local businesses and the local hotels.

“It’s just a sort of great high-energy weekend to be out and about in the city.”

This year’s event will be the second event back since the COVID-19 pandemic caused them to take a break. There are high hopes for this year’s event following last year when they were still feeling the strain from the pandemic and experienced decreased numbers of people attending.

“We are in the process of building back up to the full scale of the festival that we had pre-COVID and that has been a little bit of a challenge for us in terms of attendance,” Love said. “People are still reluctant to attend large-scale events and also financially because we are so dependent on ticket sales. Last year our festival was smaller and we had to scale down quite a bit, but this year we have much stronger ticket sales so far and a much larger festival which is going to feel much more like it was pre-pandemic.”

Love shared however that going forward with the event the team putting on the Flurry is mindful that they need to be attentive and cautious when planning a large gathering event in the winter when illness could still be circulating, so they are asking attendees to test before coming to the festival and not to attend if they are showing any symptoms.

“We are just asking for people to be responsible about their participation in this event so we can be mindful of the health and well-being of our community,” Love explained.

Dances at the Flurry are informal, participator and appropriate for both singles and couples, with people who wish to participate in partner classes not needing to attend with a partner. Attendees are advised to dress casually and comfortably with soft-soled shoes to get the most out of the day.

Admission prices range, with children 12 and under able to attend for free. Advanced ticket sales have concluded, but there are unlimited at-door tickets that will be sold during the Festival Weekend in the City Center lobby. There are discounted tickets for those under 26, senior, military, and DanceFlurry Organization members, with ID required for discounts.

There will also be a limited number of Lower-priced scholarship tickets available the day of for those who realize the cost of a regularly-priced ticket would prevent them from being able to attend the event.

Prices range from $50 to $220, with different options of day, night, all-day or all weekend available. For more information visit www.flurryfestival.org/tickets2024.

“In the world of traditional music, it’s not so well known in popular culture, the level of talent our performers and presenters is just extraordinary and world-class ” Love explained regarding an unknown aspect of the festival she wished more people were aware of. “It’s the kind of talent that people would pay extraordinary sums to experience in other genres, but traditional music often kind of gets short shrift because it’s not in the mainstream so much.

“So I think the kinds of learning experiences that people have at the flurry and the musical experiences — they’re learning different dance styles from many of the top professionals in their fields, who are nationally and internationally renowned and I think that’s something that maybe flies under the radar, a bit for the general population — the overall skill level and the opportunity to experience that locally, all in one weekend for so many, so many different genres.”

Typically, around 4,500 people gather in Saratoga Springs for this weekend festival, and with over 200 sessions to choose from, in all different genres of dance and music there is something for everybody at the Flurry.

For more details about the festival, visit https://www.flurryfestival.org/