Robert Fairchild & Travis Wall in Christopher Wheeldon's "Us" - Fire Island Dance Festival 2018

At the 2018 edition of the Fire Island Dance Festival, Tony Award-winning and internationally acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon presented Us, a heart-rending and moving duet about a deeply passionate and turbulent relationship. Tony Award nominee and former New York City Ballet principal Robert Fairchild teamed up with two-time Emmy Award-winning So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Travis Wall. The duo alternated between lifting each other up and pushing each other away, showing their conflict and intimacy through impressive strength and poignant physicality. Once-in-a-lifetime pairings of ballet and contemporary luminaries, three remarkable world premieres, an excerpt of a seminal piece that changed the history of modern dance and unpredictable weather conditions marked this year’s sold-out Fire Island Dance Festival on July 20-22, 2018. The 24th edition raised a record $604,103 for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Dancers Responding to AIDS relies on the extraordinary compassion and efforts of the performing arts community to fund a safety net of social services for those in need. As a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, DRA supports the essential programs of The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative and The Dancers' Resource, as well as more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.