Bal Week

Start making your plans! Our Bal Week 2026 schedule overview is here! Each night join us for social dancing throughout the city, lessons, and live music. Weekday dances are a la carte, and weekend dances are included in your Full Weekend or Party Pass. Register at balweek.com and we’ll see you May 4-10 in NYC! Schedule is subject to change. Check back regularly for more details on additional parties and community event! THE SCHEDULE: 🚪 Monday - Sveltana & The Delancey Five at Back Room 🔥 Tuesday - White Heat (band TBA) at You Should Be Dancing Studios 🌃 Wednesday - Hot Toddies Jazz Band at Somewhere Nowhere 🎶 Thursday - Frim Fram Jam (DJs TBA) at You Should Be Dancing Studios 🥳 Friday - Keenan McKenzie & The Riffers at You Should Be Dancing Studios 🎷 Saturday - Keenan McKenzie & The Riffers at The Good Shepherd Church 🎵 Sunday - DJd dance at You Should Be Dancing Studios

Are you registered?! We’re FOUR MONTHS away from Bal Week 2026 and we’ve got lots in store for you! 🎶 Battle it out in our Mix and Match, Slow Balboa, or Balboa Rendezvous competitions. 🎷 Social dance for seven nights straight in the city that never sleeps! Choose your own adventure, of course, as weekday dances are a la carte throughout NYC, but then join us on the weekend for Keenan McKenzie and The Riffers! 🎓 And level up your dancing with classes from our amazing 2026 instructors: Kelly Arsenault Mickey Fortanasce Annabel Truesdell Quisao Bobby White Natalia Eristavi Andreas Olsson Natasha Shevchenko Michael Tan Registration for Tier 3 of full weekend passes is open at balweek.com!

What is Bal Week? Bal Week is an event unlike any other. Monday through Thursday of Bal Week, enjoy all the local events NYC has to offer. Choose your own adventure during the day time, and join us for a full schedule of a la carte dancing, instruction, and music throughout the city every evening. Bal Week(end) runs Friday through Sunday, with tracked classes and electives from our teacher lineup, competitions, and evening dances! The best way to see NYC is from the dance floor! Register for your Bal Week(end) Tier 1 or Supporter Pass at balweek.com 📸: @ninagalicheva.photo

That’s a wrap! Thank you so much for attending Bal Week 2026! We are so grateful to all of you who helped make this year so exciting and special. Before we sign off for a couple days to properly recover, we would love your feedback! Please fill out the form below and let us know what you enjoyed about this year or your suggestions for the future. 🔗: forms.gle/7a1rptsT2jSqiiMN8 We’d also like to publicly thank the following incredible people: Our weekend instructors, weekday elective instructors, and judges - Annabel Truesdell Quisao, Bobby White, Natalia Eristavi, Andreas Olsson, Natasha Shevchenko, Michael Tan, Theresa Manney, Jeremy Otth, Yurina Shin, and Chisomo Selemani. Thank you for bringing your expertise, care, and love for this dance to the classroom and the competition floor. Our weekend musicians and DJs - Keenan McKenzie and The Riffers, Michael Quisao, Yülai Liu, and Peter Flahiff, who kept us dancing until we dropped. Our Emcee, Peter Flahiff. who guided us all through the weekend and never failed to remind us to appreciate the little moments behind the scenes. You’re the best! Our weekend volunteers and safety team - Akemi Kinukawa, Taba Kheradmand, Jason Zheng, Hyuna Cho, Bani Kheradmand, Medha Goyal, Scott Bishop, Toni Wickson, JiJi Wong, and Nick Gonella. We seriously couldn’t have done this without you. Our lovely photographer, Kang Kang Margolese! Thank you for capturing so many special moments for us. Our venues and collaborators for this year - @svetlanajazz and Back Room, @yurina.balboa and White Heat, @prohibitionproductions and Somewhere Nowhere, @frimframjam , @ysbdnyc , and our Saturday main event partner, @swingremix . Thank you for all you do for the NYC jazz scene. A personal thank you to all our friends who went the extra mile and asked us to dance in our very few spare moments, or made sure we were properly fed and (in Sara’s case) caffeinated all weekend long. We feel so very loved. And lastly, a huge thank you to @balronin and all of you for trusting us to run the show this year. We hope we did you proud. We’ll see you soon! -The Bal Week team Sara-Sofia Rentas and Cami Asher

Social dancing with Natalia at New York Bal Week. Loved our classes, loved our dancing, and honestly didn’t want a single song to end! #balboadance Incredible music by Keenan McKenzie all weekend long. Huge thank you to Sara Sofia Rentas, Cami Asher, and Mickey Fortanasce for such a beautiful event.

Welcome to Bal Week(end) 2026! We have some updates and reminders before you arrive this evening. 🎟️ Event and Competition Check-In: Our check in desk opens at 7:45pm where you will receive your wristbands and any competition numbers. You may still sign up for competitions at the door. The deadline to register for the Rendezvous is 9pm Friday. The deadline to register for the Mix and Match is 2pm Saturday. You must have a Full Weekend or Party Pass to be eligible for competitions. Rendezvous competitors, you do not need your numbers for the Pure Bal Round this evening! Numbers will only be necessary if you progress to tomorrow’s Rendezvous Semi-Finals or are competing in the Mix and Match. Tomorrow morning, please arrive 15 minutes early to class to check in so our wonderful instructors can start right on time. The YSBD door code will be 4968#, which is also listed on all our schedules. 🎓 Private Lessons: Limited private lessons are still available during the weekend with staff instructors or visiting guests. Please reach out directly to an instructor to schedule and see our website FAQ for more details. 👠Clothing Swap: Starting tonight, we invite you to bring any items you’d like to add to our clothing swap! Bring your gently used dance clothes, vintage, dance shoes, or accessories, and leave with some new-to-you items as well. You’re welcome to attach a price and contact info to your items, but Bal Week is not responsible for any missing items. ‼️Event Info and Policies: For any scheduling or event questions please visit our website, balweek.com. Take a moment to review our code of conduct on our website prior to arrival, and reach out to our Safe Space team if you need assistance throughout the event. The 2026 team is Nick Gonella, Cami Asher, and Sara-Sofia Rentas. As always, be respectful of our wonderful venues and hosts this weekend, @ysbdnyc and @swingremix . Clean up after yourselves, make sure you have all your belongings as you leave, and do not wax the floor without organizer approval. We’ll see you very soon! - The Bal Week Team 📸: (Austin) Nick Williams

Frim Fram is thrilled to participate in NYC Bal Week! Balboa dancers from all over the world are converging on NYC for a full week of Bal-centric events! Join us and dance to classic swing music from special guest DJs Michael Quisao & Peter Flahiff! Special Balboa lesson by TBA at 8:30pm! 8:30pm - 9pm FREE Intro lesson w/ Sara-Sofia Rentas & Cami Asher 9pm - close - Open dancing with DJs Michael Quisao & Peter Flahiff! 🎟️ Entry is $15, $10 for students with ID 😷 Masks are optional and available free at the door 🔑 Building door code for May is 4968#

So excited for BAL WEEK 2026 NIGHT THREE! We’ll see you all very soon for more Balboa, excellent music, special performances from Annabel Truesdell Quisao and Bobby White, and one of the best views of NYC you can find! Location: Somewhere Nowhere - walk-ins welcome at the bar! Band: Hot Toddies Jazz Band - w. Hannah Gill, Linus Wyrsch, Jake Handelman, Justin Poindexter, Ian Hutchison, Patrick Soluri Time: DJ Andrius and Happy Hour at 5pm, band 7:15-11:00pm Tonight there is no cover, but please support our NYC scene by visiting the bar and tipping the band! For more Balboa throughout the week, check out our schedules at balweek.com 📸: (Austin) Nick Williams

White Heat Presents: Nathan Tokunaga Quintet We are so hyped to have the Nathan Tokunaga Quintet joining us for a very special White Heat! Since it’s Bal Week, we’re expecting a packed house with dancers visiting from all over the world. It’s going to be one of those nights you don’t want to miss. Nathan is a killer multi-instrumentalist who recently moved to NYC, and he’s already making waves. He truly loves the classic stuff, so he’s putting together a set of all those Balboa favorites that we know and love. Expect plenty of drive, a great groove, and enough energy to keep us all on the floor until the very last song. Huge thanks to everyone who comes out and supports White Heat every month. You’re the reason we can keep bringing live music to this community. (And thank you to @yurina.balboa for hosting White Heat month after month! -The Bal Week Team) Don’t forget to check in at the door, and please bring some extra love (and tips!) for the band. Let’s show them how NYC welcomes a great quintet. See you out there! Time: 9:30 PM – Midnight Where: @ysbdnyc Door code: 4968# Cover: $20 (Cash or Venmo at the door)

@thebackroomnyc #speakeasy was jumpin’ last night with the start of @balweekny with our friend @svetlanajazz

Tonight at @thebackroomnyc , Svetlana and George Gee Swing All-Stars! Order vintage themed drinks in teacups and dance in a real Prohibition-era speakeasy! No cover, tip the band and your bartenders. Balboa mini dance lesson by Cami Asher and Sara-Sofia Rentas, and band breaks with DJ Douglas McMillan! Doors - 6pm / Music - 9pm. Musicians and vocalists are welcome to sit in with the band. Bring your axe, voice, dancing shoes!

Online registration is now closed but you can still add on Rendezvous or Mix and Match competition entries to your existing passes! Email [email protected] to sign up! Competition pre-registration ends Monday. 📸: (Austin) Nick Williams