2025 Silent Auction Benefit - World Dance Festival

Lotus Music & Dance will host a benefit event on Monday, October 27, 2025 at the Ailey Studios located at 405 W 55th Street in NYC. This benefit is to raise funds for the World Dance Festival performance on December 7th, 2025.

This year, many organizations did not receive the NEA grant, and Lotus was one of them. This grant was imperative to the funding and success of the World Dance Festival. 

An integral part of our fundraising event will be our Silent Auction, offering unique and beautiful goods and services that represent our multi-cultural institution. There will be a cocktail reception, festive food, performances and special guests. The proceeds from this event will go towards the grant that was intended to support the World Dance Festival.

World Dance Festival: Dancing Across Cultural Borders will take place on Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 4pm at The Ailey Citigroup Theater on 405 West 55th Street in NYC. The event is presented by Lotus Music & Dance and Robert Browning and Associates with support from the New York State Council on the Arts.

The program will feature two collaborations

First Collaboration: "Hidden Faces and the Harvest" with the Japanese Folk Dance Institute and Saung Budaya, West Sumatran Dance
Second CollaborationExcerpts from "the Cross Cultural Ramayana" with Trinayan Odissi Dance Collective and Kinding Sindaw, Tribal Dances from the Southern Philippines. 
This event will not only be an entertaining and festive celebration of authentic world-class dance and music, but will feature a Q&A as well as audience participation, providing a chance to learn directly from the artists about the common threads these cultures share and what makes them unique. There will be a meet and greet with the artists following the program. 

Please continue to check back on our auction page, as we update with new items. 

Lotus Music & Dance, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1989 by master Bharata Natyam dancer Kamala Cesar. It is a performance space, sanctuary, and center of education for traditional and indigenous performing arts forms. The mission is to keep alive and accessible the music and dance traditions of all world cultures. Lotus Music & Dance remains the only institution of its kind in New York City, with master artists from India, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, the South Pacific, Middle East, the Mohawk Nation, West Africa, and Spain collectively preserving their traditional arts.

For more info about Lotus, visit https://www.lotusmusicanddance.org/