Things To Do in NYC in May 2025 include: Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Frieze Week contemporary art fairs, Dance Parade, DanceAfrica, BIG Salsa Festival, Summer for the City, and more.
May is a transitional month from the school and cultural season into summer’s outdoor rhythms. May 2025 is different because of the way our own government suddenly turned against us, the American people. Many cultural organizations have had to cancel events that were already set up. We are all trying to figure this out.
May’s U.S. national holiday is Memorial Day Weekend, the popular start of summer which includes many summer festivals. Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day are popular May holidays.
May weather is late spring. It’s comfortably warm. Average temperature is 54° – 72°. It’s one of our favorite months of the year because weather patterns bring big fluffy clouds up from the Caribbean. They make the best backdrop for New York City.
Thank you for sponsoring New York Latin Culture Magazine in May 2025!
MAY 1-4 | 5-11 | 12-18 | 19-25 | 26-31
- May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Surprise, Latins are Asian and Pacific Islanders too. The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas came from Asia. Chinese and South Asians came to work after abolition. After building the western end of the Transcontinental Railroad, Chinese built the railroads in the Caribbean before mostly blending in. South Asians are the largest community in Trinidad and Tobago. Japanese added their flavors to Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine. Easter Island is part of Chile. Ancient Colombians made it to Polynesia. We just don’t know if they made it on their own or on a Polynesian round-trip.
- Haitian Heritage Month 🇭🇹
- Month of Mary ✝️
ART
- Frieze New York contemporary art fair ~ May 7-11, 2025
- 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair ~ May 8-11, 2025
- Future Fair contemporary art fair ~ May 7-10, 2025
- Clio Art Fair contemporary art fair ~ May 8-11, 2025
- NADA New York contemporary art fair ~ May 7-11, 2025
- Sotheby’s May auction exhibitions ~ May 2-13, 2025
- Christie’s May auction exhibitions (May 4+, 2024)
- Independent contemporary art fair ~ May 8-11, 2025
- TEFAF New York antiques fair ~ May 9-13, 2025
BOOKS
- PEN World Voices Festival ~ April 30 – May 3, 2025 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇨🇱 🇪🇹 🇬🇹 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇳🇬 🇵🇦 🇵🇷
- Nuyorican Bowery Slam ~ Mondays 🇵🇷
DANCE
- New York City Ballet Spring Season ~ Apr 22 – Jun 1, 2025
- Viva El Cinco de Mayo ~ May 4, 2025 🇲🇽
- Calpulli Mexican Dance Company ~ May 5 & 8, 2025 🇲🇽
- Bebe Miller Company ~ May 8, 2025 🇺🇸
- International American Ballet, tango ballet ~ May 16, 2025 🇦🇷
- ABT Studio Company ~ May 16-17, 2025 🇦🇷 🇺🇸 🇬🇷 🇲🇽 🇰🇷 🇬🇧 🇻🇪
- Dance Parade ~ May 17, 2025 🇺🇸 🇦🇴 🇦🇷 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇳 🇨🇴 🇨🇩 🇨🇬 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇭🇹 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇮🇹 🇮🇪 🇰🇷 🇯🇲 🇯🇵 🇲🇽 🇵🇾 🇵🇷 🏴 🇪🇸 🇹🇼 🇹🇭 🇹🇹
- Limón Dance Company ~ May 21-22, 2025 🇲🇽
- DanceAfrica ~ May 23-26, 2025 🇺🇸 🇨🇲 🇸🇳
- Ballet Hispánico ~ May 29 – Jun 1, 2025
- Nélida Tirado flamenco ~ Wednesdays 🇵🇷
DANCES
- Bryant Park Dance Party ~ Apr 30 – May 15, 2025
- Eli Escobar House of Grooves, May 2, 2025
- BIG Salsa Festival May 23-26 🇵🇷
- Midtown Dance ~ May 21 – Sep 20, 2025
- Salsa Sundays at Orchard Beach ~ starts May 25 🇵🇷
- El Destino tango, Sundays 🇦🇷 🇺🇾
- Latin Mondays at Taj salsa, Mondays
- Tango La Nacional, Thursdays 🇦🇷
FASHION
- Met Gala: May 5
FESTIVALS
- International Worker’s Day ~ May 1
- Second of May Uprising ~ May 2, 1808 🇪🇸
- Fiestas de la Cruz ~ May 3 🇵🇷
- Saint Florian ~ May 4 ✝️
- Cinco de Mayo ~ May 5 🇲🇽
- Cinco de Mayo Parade ~ Not in 2025 🇲🇽
- Cinco de Mayo Parade & Festival ~ Not in 2025 🇲🇽
- Bronx Week ~ May 5-18, 2025
- Osvaldo Fresedo ~ May 5 🇦🇷
- Eva Perón ~ May 7 🇦🇷
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk ~ May 8 🇺🇸
- Mexican Mother’s Day ~ May 10 🇲🇽
- Mother’s Day ~ May 11, 2025 🇺🇸
- Salvador Dali ~ May 11 🇪🇸
- Our Lady of Fatima ~ May 13 🇵🇹
- Dance Parade ~ May 17, 2025
- Haitian Flag Day ~ May 18 🇭🇹
- Pentecost ~ May 19 ✝️
- Pinkster ~ May 19 🇺🇸
- Cuban Independence Day 1902 ~ May 20 🇨🇺
- Toussaint L’Ouverture ~ May 20 🇭🇹
- Loisaida Festival ~ May 25, 2025 🇵🇷
- Africa Day ~ May 25
- George Floyd Day ~ May 25 🇺🇸
- May Revolution of Buenos Aires ~ May 25 🇦🇷
- Guyanese Independence Day ~ May 26 🇬🇾
- Manhattanhenge ~ May 28-29, 2025
- Ascension ~ May 29, 2025 ✝️
- South Bronx Cultural Festival ~ May 30 – Jun 1, 2025 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
- 152nd Street Cultural Festival ~ May 31, 2025 🇵🇷
FILM
- New York African Film Festival ~ May 7-31, 2025 🇦🇴 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇬🇼 🇰🇪 🇬🇭 🇲🇱 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇬 🇸🇳 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇺🇬
- Harlem International Film Festival ~ May 15-18, 2025
- Colombian International Film Festival ~ (May 16-19, 2024)
- Brooklyn Film Festival ~ May 30 – Jun 8, 2025
- “Ya No Estoy Aquí” (I’m No Longer Here), Mexican film 🇲🇽
MUSIC
- Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra ~ Sundays 🇨🇺
- Shakira “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour” ~ May 16, 2025 🇨🇴
- Los Amigos Invisibles ~ May 17, 2025 🇻🇪
- Rauw Alejandro “Cosa Nuestra Tour” ~ May 19-21, 2025 🇵🇷
- Cimafunk & La Tribu “Pa Tu Cuerpa” Tour ~ May 22, 2025 🇨🇺
- Paquito D’Rivera, James Moody Tribute ~ May 27, 2025 🇨🇺
SPORTS
- Gotham FC women’s soccer
- New York City Football Club (NYCFC) soccer
- New York Mets baseball
- New York Red Bulls soccer
- New York Yankees baseball
THEATRE
- Parrots at the Pagoda ~ Thu-Sun, May 1-25, 2025. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
- The Young Lords – The Musical ~ Fri, May 16, 2025 🇵🇷
- Shakespeare in the City “Much Ado About Nothing” ~ May 29 – Jun 29, 2025 🇦🇷 🇲🇽
Things To Do in NYC May 1-4, 2025
Many Cinco de Mayo festivities will be held this weekend.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Festival
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Through the Caribbean and Latin America, Asians are Latin too.
Labor Day
International Workers Day is the Labor Day celebrated by most of the world on May 1. 🇦🇷 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇸🇻 🇵🇭 🇫🇷 🇬🇹 🇭🇹 🇭🇳 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇵🇦 🇵🇾 🇵🇪 🇵🇹 🇷🇴 🇪🇸 🇺🇾 🇻🇪
Friday, May 2, 2025
Spanish History
Remember the Second of May Uprising (Levantamiento del Dos de Mayo) when the Spanish people spontaneously rebelled against French occupation on May 2, 1808. This revolt against colonization ultimately led to the independence of the Americas. 🇪🇸
Puerto Rican House Dance Party
Eli Escobar House of Grooves has the New York Puerto Rican DJ spinning house, techno, disco, and hip hop in the Main Room; at the House of Yes dance club in Bushwick, Brooklyn; on Friday, May 2, 2025 from 10pm – 4am. From $18. 🇵🇷
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Things To Do in NYC May 5-11, 2025
This week is Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, and Frieze Week, NYC’s spring cluster of contemporary art fairs.
Frieze New York 2025 Anchors the Frieze Week Cluster of Contemporary Art Fairs 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇫🇷 🇬🇹 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇿🇦 🇪🇸
Independent New York 2025 is the New Yorker of New York Art Fairs 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇪🇹 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇷🇴 🇪🇸
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Shows African and African Diaspora Art 🇧🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇩 🇫🇷 🇭🇰 🇮🇹 🇯🇵 🇳🇬 🇿🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
New York African Film Festival 2025 Celebrates Fluid Horizons in Films from Mother Afrika 🇦🇴 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇬🇼 🇰🇪 🇬🇭 🇲🇱 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇬 🇸🇳 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇺🇬
NADA New York is an Emerging Contemporary Art Fair 🇨🇦 🇨🇺 🇫🇷 🇲🇽 🇳🇬 🇵🇷 🇷🇴 🇿🇦 🇪🇸
Monday, May 5, 2025
Mexican Festival
Cinco de Mayo is a Poblano celebration of Mexico’s win at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and an American celebration of Mexican American culture on May 5. ¡Viva México! 🇲🇽
French History
The French Revolution (1789-1799) began with the opening of the Estates General representative assembly in Versailles, France on May 5, 1789.
Tango Birthday
Remember Osvaldo Fresedo. The Argentine tango composer was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 5, 1897. 🇦🇷
Cinco de Mayo ~ Mexican Ballet Folklórico
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company “Puebla, The Story of Cinco de Mayo” is an educational journey about the origins of America’s celebration of Mexican culture; in The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey; on Cinco de Mayo, Monday, May 5, 2025. There are two performances, one for schools at 10:30am (contact Calpulli for details), and for the public at 6pm (5:30pm doors). Includes a performance and dance party by Mariachi Huitzilin. From $17. 🇲🇽
Old Timey Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Mondays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). From $25. 🇮🇹
Salsa Dance Party
Latin Mondays NYC by Talia Castro-Pozo, one of NYC’s most popular salsa dance parties, is at 5th&Mad in Murray Hill, Manhattan; on Mondays. Doors open at 5pm. Salsa class at 7pm followed by DJ sets. Live music for dancing at 9pm and 11pm with DJs until late. From $13. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇦 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Bowery Slam live poetry competition, is at the Bowery Poetry Club in NoHo, Manhattan; Mondays from 7-9pm (6:30pm doors and signup). $20. 🇵🇷
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Old Timey Hot Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Tuesdays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm door). From $25. 🇮🇹
Italian Birthday
Rudolph Valentino, the first Latin film idol (and funny Argentine tango dancer), was born in Castellaneta, Apulia, Italy on May 6, 1895.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Argentine Birthday
Remember Eva Perón “Evita”, the legendary first lady of Argentina, who was born in Los Toldos, Argentina on May 7, 1919. 🇦🇷
Contemporary Art Fair
The Frieze New York 2025 contemporary art fair presents 67 galleries from over 25 countries; at The Shed in Hudson Yards, Manhattan; from Wednesday-Sunday, May 7-11, 2025. 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇫🇷 🇬🇹 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇿🇦 🇪🇸
Contemporary Art Fair
The 11th NADA New York 2025 emerging contemporary art fair, is in the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea, Manhattan; from May 7-11, 2025. 🇨🇦 🇨🇺 🇫🇷 🇲🇽 🇳🇬 🇵🇷 🇷🇴 🇿🇦 🇪🇸
African Film Festival
The 32nd New York African Film Festival 2025 honors the resilience of our ancestors and today’s African youth with over 100 films from 30 countries in Mother Afrika, with many filmmakers doing panels and post-screening Q&As, from May 7-31, 2025. The Festival starts at Film at Lincoln Center from May 7-13, continues at Maysles Cinema in Harlem from May 15-18, and ends as FilmAfrica at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, from May 23-29. 🇦🇴 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇬🇼 🇰🇪 🇬🇭 🇲🇱 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇬 🇸🇳 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇺🇬
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Cinco de Mayo ~ Mexican Ballet Folklórico
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company “Puebla, The Story of Cinco de Mayo” excerpts are in the Arts on Stage assembly at the Queens Theatre in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens; on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 10am and 11:45am. 🇲🇽
Cinco de Mayo ~ Mexican Ballet Folklórico
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company “Puebla, The Story of Cinco de Mayo” excerpts are at the Williamson Theater at College of Staten Island; on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 3:30pm. Free. 🇲🇽
Contemporary Art Fair
Independent New York 2025, the New Yorker of New York City’s contemporary art fairs, presents over 118 artists from 85 galleries and a new curatorial initiative “Independent Debuts” featuring artists with no more than one solo show in New York and never in an art fair; at Spring Studios in Tribeca, Manhattan; with a vernissage on Thursday, May 8; and the public fair from Friday-Sunday, May 9-11, 2025. 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇪🇹 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇷🇴 🇪🇸
African & Diaspora Art Fair
The 11th 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2025 presents 30 galleries of contemporary African and Diasporic; at The Halo at 28 Liberty St in Manhattan’s Financial District; during Frieze Week, with a VIP Preview on Thursday, May 8, 2025 for $100, and public hours from Friday-Sunday, May 9-11, 2025. $38. 🇧🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇩 🇫🇷 🇭🇰 🇮🇹 🇯🇵 🇳🇬 🇿🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
African American Contemporary Dance
Bebe Miller Company “Indifferent Forest” premiere uses the wisdom of the forest to find interdependent ways to dance on shared ground. The show includes performances of “Rain” (1989) and “Rhythm Studies” (1999); at Harlem Stage in Manhattanville, West Harlem, Manhattan; on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 7pm. $25. 🇺🇸
Argentine Tango Dance Party
Tango La Nacional, New York City’s most traditional and longest-running milonga (tango dance party), is at La Nacional, the old Spanish social club in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Thursdays, with an intermediate lesson at 7pm, dancing at 8pm, performances around 11pm, and “El Choclo” (last dance) around 2am. $30. 🇦🇷
Creole Birthday
Remember Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the Creole composer who notated the rhythms of the Caribbean at Congo Square, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 8, 1829. 🇺🇸
Friday, May 9, 2025
Park Avenue Armory
The 11th TEFAF New York 2025 antiques and design fair; is at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; from Friday-Tuesday, May 9-13, 2025. $60. 🇧🇷 🇨🇦 🇨🇺 🇫🇷 🇮🇹
Colombian Classical Jazz
Samuel Torres “A Dance for Birds” featuring the Bergamot Quartet and vocalist Lucía Pulido is a nine-movement suite that tells stories of migration using the congas as birds; for Carnegie Hall’s “Nuestros Sonidos” (Our Sounds) at National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; on Friday, May 9, 2025 at 7:30pm. $44. ovationtix.com 🇨🇴
Colombian New York Salsa
La Excelencia, a Colombian New York band that is really popular with dancers, plays hard salsa for dancing; at Gonzalez y Gonzalez Mexican restaurant in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Friday, May 9, 2025, from 11pm – 4am.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Argentine Tango Birthday
Remember Roberto Firpo, the early Argentine tango pianist, orchestra leader, and composer; who was born in Flores, Buenos Aires on May 10, 1884. 🇦🇷
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Happy Mother’s Day! 🇧🇷🇨🇦🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇺🇪🇨🇭🇳🇮🇹🇵🇪🇵🇷🇺🇸🇺🇾🇻🇪
Spanish Artist Birthday
Remember Salvador Dalí. The Spanish surrealist was born in Figueres, Spain on May 11, 1904. 🇪🇸
Things To Do in NYC May 12-18, 2025
Dance Parade 2025 is Once Again About Reclaiming the Freedom to Be Yourself
🇺🇸 🇦🇴 🇦🇷 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇳 🇨🇴 🇨🇩 🇨🇬 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇭🇹 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇮🇹 🇮🇪 🇰🇷 🇯🇲 🇯🇵 🇲🇽 🇵🇾 🇵🇷 🏴 🇪🇸 🇹🇼 🇹🇭 🇹🇹
New York City Football Club (NYCFC) Hosts the Hudson River Derby vs New York Red Bulls
🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇸🇱
New York African Film Festival 2025 Celebrates Fluid Horizons in Films from Mother Afrika
🇦🇴 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇬🇼 🇰🇪 🇬🇭 🇲🇱 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇬 🇸🇳 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇺🇬
Monday, May 12, 2025
Old Timey Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Mondays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). From $25. 🇮🇹
Salsa Dance Party
Latin Mondays NYC by Talia Castro-Pozo, one of NYC’s most popular salsa dance parties, is at 5th&Mad in Murray Hill, Manhattan; on Mondays. Doors open at 5pm. Salsa class at 7pm followed by DJ sets. Live music for dancing at 9pm and 11pm with DJs until late. From $13. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇦 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Bowery Slam live poetry competition, is at the Bowery Poetry Club in NoHo, Manhattan; Mondays from 7-9pm (6:30pm doors and signup). $20. 🇵🇷
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Old Timey Hot Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Tuesdays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm door). From $25. 🇮🇹
Modern Art Auction
Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction, including works by Cuban artist Lam, Mexican artist Tamayo, and Mexican artist Varo; goes on view at Sotheby’s showroom in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 2, 2025, for auction on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 7pm. 🇨🇺 🇫🇷 🇲🇽 🇪🇸
Portuguese Festival
The Feast of Our Lady of Fátima celebrates a famous Marian apparition who first appeared to three peasant children in Fátima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917. 🇵🇹
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Panamanian Salsa Film
“Crossover Dreams” by Manuel Arce (1985) was New York Panamanian salsa legend Rubén Blades’ acting debut. In this semi-autobiographical musical comedy, he plays an up-and-coming salsa singer who dreams of the big time. Blades is a legend now, but was once that young salsa singer. It’s part of Carnegie Hall’s “Nuestros Sonidos” (Our Sounds) at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Film at Lincoln Center in Manhattan; on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 6pm. lincolncenter.org 🇵🇦
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Italian Art Auction
Im Spazio: The Space of Thoughts, an auction of mostly Italian masterworks from the collection of Israeli art dealer Daniella Luxembourg; goes on view at Sotheby’s in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 2, 2025; for auction on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7pm. 🇮🇹
Latin Jazz
Jenn Jade & Sexteto Sabroso play Latin jazz for Carnegie Hall’s “Nuestros Sonidos” (Our Sounds); at the Bronx Music Hall in Melrose, The Bronx; on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7pm. ovationtix.com 🇦🇷 🇨🇴 🇩🇴 🇵🇪 🇵🇷
Contemporary and Now Art Auction
Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction, including work by Basquiat goes on view at Sotheby’s showroom in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 2, 2025, for auction on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7:30pm. 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇭🇹 🇵🇷 🇷🇴
Argentine Tango Dance Party
Tango La Nacional, New York City’s most traditional and longest-running milonga (tango dance party), is at La Nacional, the old Spanish social club in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Thursdays, with an intermediate lesson at 7pm, dancing at 8pm, performances around 11pm, and “El Choclo” (last dance) around 2am. $30. 🇦🇷
Friday, May 16, 2025
Puerto Rican Theatre
“The Young Lords – The Musical” tells the story of the Puerto Rican activist group and the rise of its leader Cha-Cha Jimenez in the 1970s; in a reading at The Producers Club in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 11am and 3pm. Free with rsvp at eventbrite.com 🇵🇷
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
Parrots at the Pagoda tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Argentine Tango Ballet
Analia Farfan’s International American Ballet Astor Piazzolla Extravaganza is a world premiere gala performance of an Argentine tango ballet, featuring star dancers Guillermina Quiroga, Mariano Logiudice, Gabriela Estrada, Misa Mochizuki, and Teryn Trent, with vocals by Mariela Marco and Fernando Pirez, backed by the Tango Bardo orchestra. It’s at St. Jean’s Theater in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, on May 16, 2025, at 7pm. From $40. internationalamericanballet.com 🇦🇷
Contemporary, Neoclassical, & Classical Ballet
ABT Studio Company Spring Moves dances contemporary, neoclassical, and classical ballet with a world premiere by ABT Dancer Brady Farrar, New York City premieres by Houston Thomas, ABT dancer Madison Brown, Yannick Lebrun, and ABT Principal James Whiteside, plus Balanchine, Robbins, Arpino, and McKenzie’s Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. It’s at NYU Skirball Center at New York University in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Friday-Saturday, May 16-17, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $55. 🇦🇷 🇺🇸 🇬🇷 🇲🇽 🇰🇷 🇬🇧 🇻🇪
Colombian Pop
Shakira “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour” comes to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey; on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $68. 🇨🇴
Saturday, May 17, 2025
African American and Afro-Latino Literature
The Junior Scholar Program’s Annual Youth Summit is a showcase of Black and Brown creative work; for Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at Schomburg Center for research in Black Culture in Harlem; on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 11am. Free with rsvp. eventbrite.org 🇺🇸 🇵🇷
African Diaspora and Indigenous Art
La Musica: Art Inspired by the Soul of Latin Music and Culture is a pop-up art installation inspired by the African and Indigenous influences on Latin music; for Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at World Arts East dance school in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Saturday-Sunday, May 17-18, 2025 at 3pm. worldartseast.com
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
Parrots at the Pagoda tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 3pm and 8pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Bronx Gala
Bronx Week’s 53rd Bronx Ball celebrates Bronx Walk of Fame inductees, with black-tie cocktails, dinner, music, and dancing at Hutchinson Metro Center in The Bronx; on Saturday, May 17, 2025, from 6-11pm. 🇺🇸
Major League Soccer
New York City Football Club (NYCFC) vs New York Red Bulls is a Hudson River Derby; at Citi Field in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens; on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 4:30pm. 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇸🇱
Salsa Block Party
Salsa Stories: El Barrio is an immersive, multimedia block party, produced by Bianka Cypriano, featuring salsa band The A Train, DJ Cocotaso, and Piel Canela Dancers; for Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at the Herb Garden at 176 East 111th St in East Harlem, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 6pm. eventbrite.com 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
Venezuelan Latin Alternative
Los Amigos Invisibles play Venezuelan Latin alternative in the Main Space at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 6:30pm. From $37. 🇻🇪
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Bronx Parade
Bronx Week’s Bronx Parade is on Mosholu Parkway on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 10am. FREE.
Bronx Food Festival
Bronx Week’s Bronx Food and Arts Festival is on the southbound lanes of Mosholu Parkway at Van Cortlandt Avenue East; on Sunday, May 18, 2025, from 12-6pm. Free with purchase options.
Bronx Music
The Bronx Week Concert is on Mosholu Parkway and Bainbridge Avenue on Sunday, May 18, 2025, from 12-6pm. Free
African Diaspora and Indigenous Art
La Musica: Art Inspired by the Soul of Latin Music and Culture is a pop-up art installation inspired by the African and Indigenous influences on Latin music; for Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at World Arts East dance school in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Saturday-Sunday, May 17-18, 2025 at 3pm. worldartseast.com
Cuban Rumba Puerto Rican Salsa Dance Class and Party
Where Rumba Meets Salsa: Workshop and Social connects Puerto Rican salsa dance’s origins as Cuban rumba and then Cuban son; for Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at World Arts East dance school in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 3pm. worldartseast.com 🇨🇺 🇵🇷
Salsa was created by many Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Latin American artists in New York City’s Puerto Rican communities.
Argentine Tango Concert
Emiliano Messiez, the Latin Grammy nominated pianist and composer, plays Argentine tango jazz for Carnegie Hall Citywide and Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn; on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 4pm. Free with rsvp. bklynlibrary.org 🇦🇷
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
“Parrots at the Pagoda” tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 8pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Haitian Festival
Haitian Flag Day celebrates the creation of the Haitian flag and the union of Creoles and Africans on May 18, 1803. 🇭🇹
Things To Do in NYC May 19-25, 2025
New York African Film Festival 2025 Celebrates Fluid Horizons in Films from Mother Afrika
🇦🇴 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇬🇼 🇰🇪 🇬🇭 🇲🇱 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇬 🇸🇳 🇿🇦 🇸🇩 🇺🇬
Monday, May 19, 2025
African American Gala
The Harlem Stage 2025 Gala is on Monday, May 19, 2025 at 7pm. From $1,500. 🇺🇸
Old Timey Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Mondays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). From $25. 🇮🇹
Salsa Dance Party
Latin Mondays NYC by Talia Castro-Pozo, one of NYC’s most popular salsa dance parties, is at 5th&Mad in Murray Hill, Manhattan; on Mondays. Doors open at 5pm. Salsa class at 7pm followed by DJ sets. Live music for dancing at 9pm and 11pm with DJs until late. From $13. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇦 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇻🇪
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Bowery Slam live poetry competition, is at the Bowery Poetry Club in NoHo, Manhattan; Mondays from 7-9pm (6:30pm doors and signup). $20. 🇵🇷
Dance Awards
NYC Dance Alliance Foundation’s Chita Rivera Awards recognize dance and choreographic excellence in theatre and film; at NYU Skirball Center at New York University in Greenwich Village, Manhattan; on Monday, May 19, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $125. 🇵🇷
Puerto Rican Reggaeton
Rauw Alejandro “Cosa Nuestra Tour” is at Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; from Monday-Wednesday, May 19-21, 2025, at 8pm. From $137. 🇵🇷
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Old Timey Hot Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Tuesdays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm door). From $25. 🇮🇹
Argentine Tango Concert
Emiliano Messiez, the Latin Grammy nominated pianist and composer, plays Argentine tango jazz for Carnegie Hall Citywide and Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn; on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 4pm. Free with rsvp. bklynlibrary.org 🇦🇷
Puerto Rican Reggaeton
Rauw Alejandro “Cosa Nuestra Tour” is at Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; from Monday-Wednesday, May 19-21, 2025, at 8pm. From $137. 🇵🇷
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Puerto Rican Reggaeton
Rauw Alejandro “Cosa Nuestra Tour” is at Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; from Monday-Wednesday, May 19-21, 2025, at 8pm. From $137. 🇵🇷
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Afro-Cuban Funk
Cimafunk & La Tribu “Pa Tu Cuerpa” Tour with a special guest, gets funky at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall; on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 7:30pm. From $55. 🇨🇺
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
“Parrots at the Pagoda” tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Thursday, May 22, 2025 at 7pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Argentine Tango Dance Party
Tango La Nacional, New York City’s most traditional and longest-running milonga (tango dance party), is at La Nacional, the old Spanish social club in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Thursdays, with an intermediate lesson at 7pm, dancing at 8pm, performances around 11pm, and “El Choclo” (last dance) around 2am. $30. 🇦🇷
Friday, May 23, 2025
American Festival
It’s Memorial Day Weekend! Remember those who fought and died in war. We need to stop all wars. They never solve anything. Think of the children first.
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
“Parrots at the Pagoda” tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 7pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
African American, Mozambican, and Senegalese Dance
The 48th DanceAfrica 2025, led by choreographer Abdel R. Salaam, celebrates the culture of Mozambique with The Song and Dance Company of Mozambique, Mama Coumba Saaraba, The Billie’s Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, and the DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers; in a festival of dance with community workshops plus film, art, a bazaar, and lots of community at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from Friday-Monday, May 23-26, 2024. 🇺🇸 🇨🇲 🇸🇳
Salsa and Bachata Festival
The BIG Salsa Festival New York 2025 is a salsa and bachata dance festival with workshops, dance parties, master classes, and bootcamps; at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan; over Memorial Day Weekend, Thursday-Monday, May 22-26, 2025. From $72. Full pass (workshops and parties) $269. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Dominican and Puerto Rican Folk Songs
Americanto: The Songbook of the Americas presents Dominican singer-songwriter Nery Olivares and Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Mario Cancel performing from the nueva canción songbook, a popular form of Latin folk music about social issues from the 1960s and 1970s; as part of Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at Alianza Dominican Cultural Center in Washington Heights, Manhattan; on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 7:30pm. $20 suggested donation. squarespace.com 🇩🇴 🇵🇷
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Salsa and Bachata Festival
The BIG Salsa Festival New York 2025 is a salsa and bachata dance festival with workshops, dance parties, master classes, and bootcamps; at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan; over Memorial Day Weekend, Thursday-Monday, May 22-26, 2025. From $72. Full pass (workshops and parties) $269. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
“Parrots at the Pagoda” tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 3pm & 8pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
African American, Mozambican, and Senegalese Dance
The 48th DanceAfrica 2025, led by choreographer Abdel R. Salaam, celebrates the culture of Mozambique with The Song and Dance Company of Mozambique, Mama Coumba Saaraba, The Billie’s Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, and the DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers; in a festival of dance with film, art, a bazaar, and lots of community at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from Friday-Monday, May 23-26, 2024. 🇺🇸 🇨🇲 🇸🇳
Colombian Theatre
“My Friend the Tree,” by Gloria Zelaya, is a family play with Colombian cumbia music about a teen who runs away to the forest where she learns the secret life of trees and becomes a defender of the forest. This FELT Theater production is part of Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at LATEA Theater at The Clemente; in Manhattan’s Lower East Side; on Saturday, May 24 at 7pm, and Sunday, May 25 at 2pm. $20. 🇨🇴
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Salsa and Bachata Festival
The BIG Salsa Festival New York 2025 is a salsa and bachata dance festival with workshops, dance parties, master classes, and bootcamps; at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan; over Memorial Day Weekend, Thursday-Monday, May 22-26, 2025. From $72. Full pass (workshops and parties) $269. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Puerto Rican Street Fair
The 38th Loisaida Festival, an Alphabet City community street fair, opens with a community parade followed by a fun day of live music plus food, artisanal crafts, and lots of family entertainment. Performers include classical violinist Jessie Montgomery, Latin band Sonido Costeño, bomba artist Alma Moyo, pop singer Ana Macho, and Joe Bataan, the King of Latin Soul. It’s all on Loisaida Ave (Avenue C), from 5th to 12th St, in “Loisaida” Alphabet City, East Village, Manhattan; on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, May 25, 2025, from 11am-5pm, rain or shine. FREE. 🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🇵🇷
Puerto Rican Dance Party
Salsa Sundays at Orchard Beach 2025 is a casual outdoor salsa dance party in Parking Section 5 at Orchard Beach, The Bronx from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend, on Sundays from 12-5pm. The dancing is free, but you have to pay for parking.
Colombian Theatre
“My Friend the Tree,” by Gloria Zelaya, is a family play with Colombian cumbia music about a teen who runs away to the forest where she learns the secret life of trees and becomes a defender of the forest. This FELT Theater production is part of Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at LATEA Theater at The Clemente; in Manhattan’s Lower East Side; on Sunday, May 25 at 2pm. $20. 🇨🇴
Puerto Rican Queer Musical Theatre
“Parrots at the Pagoda” tells the story of popular singer and female impersonator Johnny Rodríguez and his “El Cotorrito” drag club in 1960s Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s produced by Pregones/PRTT at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 3pm. From $27. 🇵🇷 🏳️🌈
Major League Soccer
New York City Football Club (NYCFC) vs Chicago Fire is at Yankee Stadium in Concourse, The Bronx; on May 25, 2025 at 3pm. It’s Military Appreciation Day. 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇸🇱
African American, Mozambican, and Senegalese Dance
The 48th DanceAfrica 2025, led by choreographer Abdel R. Salaam, celebrates the culture of Mozambique with The Song and Dance Company of Mozambique, Mama Coumba Saaraba, The Billie’s Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, and the DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers; in a festival of dance with community workshops plus film, art, a bazaar, and lots of community at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from Friday-Monday, May 23-26, 2024. 🇺🇸 🇨🇲 🇸🇳
Things To Do in NYC May 26 – 31, 2025
Monday, May 26, 2025
African American, Mozambican, and Senegalese Dance
The 48th DanceAfrica 2025, led by choreographer Abdel R. Salaam, celebrates the culture of Mozambique. It ends with a series of African dance workshops at Mark Morris in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2024. 🇺🇸 🇨🇲 🇸🇳
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Old Timey Hot Jazz
Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz in the Birdland Theater at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen; on Tuesdays at 5:30pm (4:30pm doors) & 8:30pm (7:30pm door). From $25. 🇮🇹
Jazz
Paquito D’Rivera joins the Blue Note Jazz Festival’s Opening Night James Moody tribute; at Sony Hall in the Times Square Theater District; on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at 8pm (6pm doors). From $55. 🇨🇺
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Major League Soccer
New York City Football Club (NYCFC) vs Houston is at Yankee Stadium in Concourse, The Bronx; on May 28, 2025 at 7:30pm. It’s Black Excellence Day. 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇸🇱
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Latin Dance Theatre
Ballet Hispánico, America’s premiere Latin dance company and an American cultural treasure, celebrates its 55th Season and the 150th anniversary of the classical ballet “Carmen” with its signature work, Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s “CARMEN.maquia.” The season opens with a Gala Performance at New York City Center in Midtown, Manhattan; on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 6:30pm. The season continues through June 1, 2025, with an En Familia Family Matinee on Saturday, May 31. From $45. En Familia Family Matinee $25. 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Latin Theatre
Shakespeare in the Park 2025 opens with a bilingual mobile “Much Ado About Nothing,” the Shakespeare play about two couples who get stirred up by lies. That’s a perfect metaphor for an actor who stirs up trouble by claiming an emergency because the sky is falling (it’s not), and then causes lots of trouble at home and around the world. Being honest is better. The show, directed by Mexican American Rebecca Martinez, with music by Argentine playwright Julian Mesri, opens at Astor Place in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday-Saturday, May 29-31, 2025 at 6:30pm. Free, but first-come, first-served. 🇦🇷 🇲🇽
Argentine Tango Dance Party
Tango La Nacional, New York City’s most traditional and longest-running milonga (tango dance party), is at La Nacional, the old Spanish social club in Chelsea, Manhattan; on Thursdays, with an intermediate lesson at 7pm, dancing at 8pm, performances around 11pm, and “El Choclo” (last dance) around 2am. $30. 🇦🇷
Christian Festival
The Feast of the Ascension is a Catholic celebration of the tradition that Jesus ascended to heaven. This year, it’s on Thursday, May 29, 2025. ✝️
Friday, May 30, 2025
Latin Street Fair
The South Bronx Cultural Festival 2025 celebrates Casita Maria’s 91st Anniversary with lots of great Latin artists and family entertainment, including an Eddie Palmieri musical tribute, Nelson González All Star Band, and Casita Maria’s own Bronx Banda featuring Arturo O’Farrill; at Father Gigante Plaza in Longwood, The Bronx; from Friday-Sunday, May 30 – June 1, 2025. FREE. 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
Latin Theatre
Shakespeare in the Park 2025 opens with a bilingual mobile “Much Ado About Nothing,” the Shakespeare play about two couples who get stirred up by lies. That’s a perfect metaphor for an actor who stirs up trouble by claiming an emergency because the sky is falling (it’s not), and then causes lots of trouble at home and around the world. Being honest is better. The show, directed by Mexican American Rebecca Martinez, with music by Argentine playwright Julian Mesri, opens at Astor Place in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday-Saturday, May 29-31, 2025 at 6:30pm. Free, but first-come, first-served. 🇦🇷 🇲🇽
Latin Dance Theatre
Ballet Hispánico, America’s premiere Latin dance company and an American cultural treasure, celebrates its 55th Season and the 150th anniversary of the classical ballet “Carmen” with its signature work, Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s “CARMEN.maquia;” at New York City Center in Midtown, Manhattan; on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $45. 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Latin Street Fair
The 152nd Street Cultural Festival is a family-friendly street fair of Puerto Rican music, culture, food, and activities for little Boricuas; on 152nd St between Jackson and Tinton Avenue in Longwood, The Bronx; over Memorial Day Weekend on Saturday, May 31, 2025 from 11am – 6pm. FREE 🇵🇷
Latin Street Fair
The South Bronx Cultural Festival 2025 celebrates Casita Maria’s 91st Anniversary with lots of great Latin artists and family entertainment, including an Eddie Palmieri musical tribute, Nelson González All Star Band, and Casita Maria’s own Bronx Banda featuring Arturo O’Farrill; at Father Gigante Plaza in Longwood, The Bronx; from Friday-Sunday, May 30 – June 1, 2025. FREE. 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
Latin Dance Theatre
Ballet Hispánico, America’s premiere Latin dance company and an American cultural treasure, celebrates its 55th Season with an En Familia Family Matinee at New York City Center in Midtown, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 2pm. $25. 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
At night, Ballet Hispánico celebrates the 150th anniversary of the classical ballet “Carmen” with its signature work, Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s “CARMEN.maquia;” at New York City Center in Midtown, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $45. 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
Latin Theatre
Shakespeare in the Park 2025 opens with a bilingual mobile “Much Ado About Nothing,” the Shakespeare play about two couples who get stirred up by lies. That’s a perfect metaphor for an actor who stirs up trouble by claiming an emergency because the sky is falling (it’s not), and then causes lots of trouble at home and around the world. Being honest is better. The show, directed by Mexican American Rebecca Martinez, with music by Argentine playwright Julian Mesri, opens at Astor Place in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday-Saturday, May 29-31, 2025 at 6:30pm. Free, but first-come, first-served. 🇦🇷 🇲🇽
Mexican Film
“Ya No Estoy Aquí” (I’m No Longer Here), Fernando Frías de la Parra’s excellent 2019 Mexican film about the internal displacement that happens when you migrate. It’s the story of a street gangster Ulises who loves to dance Mexican cumbia sonidero. The dancing in the movie is spectacular. Ulises comes to New York City and tries to make it here, but just can’t because he is treated like an outsider. When he returns to Monterrey, Mexico, he finds himself considered an outsider by his own gang. It’s presented by the Latin American Film Center as part of Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos festival at the Roxy Cinema in the basement of the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 7:45pm. roxycinemanewyork.com 🇲🇽
2024
Swing Dance Party
Bryant Park Dance Party Swing Fling is a free Lindy Hop dance party with live music by Charles Turner & Uptown Swing; at Bryant Park in Midtown, Manhattan; on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Free Lesson at 6pm. Dancing at 7pm. 🇺🇸
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Puerto Rican Festival
Los Pleneros de la 21 celebrate the Puerto Rican Las Fiestas de Cruz, at Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in “El Barrio” East Harlem; on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7pm. 🇵🇷
Cinco de Mayo Cumbia Sonidera Dance Party
The BRIC House Party features hellotones “El Hijo de PueblaYork” and special guests spinning Mexican cumbia sonidera (electro cumbia) for dancing; at the BRIC House in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; on Saturday, May 11, 2024, from 9pm – 2am. $26. bricartsmedia.org 🇲🇽
Sunday, May 12, 2024
African American Modern Dance
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre performs modern and contemporary dance; in Prudential Hall at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey; on Sunday, May 12, 2024 at 3pm. From $25. 🇺🇸
Monday, May 13, 2024
Contemporary Art Auctions
Sotheby’s The Now Evening Auction goes on view at Sotheby’s in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 3, 2024; for auction on Monday, May 13, 2024 at 6:30pm.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction goes on view at Sotheby’s in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 3, 2024, for auction on Monday, May 13, 2024 at 7pm.
Modern Dance
Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrates the 92nd Street Y’s 150th Anniversary with a reimagining of works premiered on its stage, “Seven New Dances” with special guests, a preview of new work by Resident Choreographer Lauren Lovette, and the Taylor masterpiece “Esplanade” (1975) which was influenced by “Seven New Dances.” It’s in the Kaufmann Concert Hall and online at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Monday, May 13, 2024 at 8pm. From $20. 🇺🇸 🇧🇲
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Fine Art Antiques Fair
African and African Diaspora Film
The 31st New York African Film Festival screens more than 90 African and Diaspora films from 30 countries on the theme “Convergence of Time;” at Film at Lincoln Center in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, from Wednesday-Tuesday, May 8-14, 2024. $17. Continues through May 14, at Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, May 17-19, and as FilmAfrica at the DanceAfrica festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. 🇧🇷 🇨🇬 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇫🇷 🇬🇭 🇮🇳 🇰🇪 🇳🇦 🇳🇬 🇷🇼 🇸🇳 🇸🇱 🇿🇦 🇹🇿 🇺🇸 🇿🇼
Contemporary Art Auction
Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale of masterworks from the 1980s to present, is led by Haitian Puerto Rican art star Basquiat’s 1982 stretcher bar painting and a monumental Ethiopian American Julie Mehretu abstract. The auction exhibition goes on view at Christie’s Rockefeller Center showroom on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 10am, for auction on May 14, 2024 at 8pm. 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇪🇹 🇭🇹 🇵🇷
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Motown Dance Party
Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction goes on view at Sotheby’s in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Friday, May 3, 2024, for auction on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 7pm.
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Salsa Dance Party
Bryant Park Dance Party Latin Festival is a free charanga, Cuban salsa, cha-cha-cha, and salsa dura dance party with live music by La Charanga Pacha and Jimmy Bosch Salsa Masters; at Bryant Park in Midtown, Manhattan; on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Free Lesson at 6pm with dancing to live music until 10pm. 🇨🇺 🇵🇷
Colombian Film Festival
The 11th Colombian International Film Festival New York 2024 opens with a screen of “El Viaje de la Marimba” at 6pm, followed by an Opening Night Party at 8:30pm; at Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village, on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Continues through Sunday. Opening night film $30. Film & Party $60. Others from $14. 🇨🇴
20th Century Art Auction
Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale of modern, post-war, and contemporary art; features abstract expressionists, American visionaries, and modernism leaders such as Giacometti, Picasso, and Magritte. The auction is led by Van Gogh’s seminal masterwork “Coin de Jardin avec papillons” (1887), Monet’s “Moulin de Limetz” and David Hockney’s “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.” The auction exhibition goes on view at Christie’s Rockefeller Center showroom on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 10am, for auction on May 16, 2024 at 7pm. 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇮🇹
Limón Dance Company brings the Mexican modern dance pioneer’s company to the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on May 17, 2024 at 7pm. From $13. 🇲🇽
Saturday, May 18, 2024
African and African Diaspora Film
The 31st New York African Film Festival screens African and Diaspora films on the theme “Convergence of Time;” at Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, May 17-19, and as FilmAfrica at the DanceAfrica festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. 🇧🇷 🇨🇬 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇫🇷 🇬🇭 🇮🇳 🇰🇪 🇳🇦 🇳🇬 🇷🇼 🇸🇳 🇸🇱 🇿🇦 🇹🇿 🇺🇸 🇿🇼
Colombian Film Festival
The 11th Colombian International Film Festival New York 2024 screens films of Colombia and the Diaspora; at Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village, on Friday, May 16, 2024 starting at 12noon. From $14. 🇨🇴
Dance Parade
The 18th Dance Parade NYC 2024 dances from Sixth Avenue at 17th St in Chelsea, Manhattan; to DanceFest at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village; on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Dance Parade from 12noon – 3pm. DanceFest from 3-7pm. FREE. 🇺🇸 🇲🇽, 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇭🇹 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇹🇹, 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇵🇪. 🇨🇩 🇨🇬 🇪🇬, 🏴 🇪🇸, 🇰🇭 🇨🇳 🇭🇰 🇮🇳 🇯🇵 🇰🇷 🇲🇴 🇹🇼 🇸🇬 🇹🇭
African and Diaspora Dance Festival
DanceAfrica Community Day, the DanceAfrica Festival kickoff, presents the Billie Holiday Theatre’s Youth Arts Academy for the 27th year; in Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza; on Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 1pm. FREE. 🇨🇲 🇺🇸
Sunday, May 19, 2024
New York African Festival
Pinkster was a New York African festival during the Dutch colonial period, when Africans enslaved by the Dutch were allowed to celebrate their own traditions while Dutch New Yorkers celebrated Pentecost. It was celebrated from 1626 to the mid 1800s.
Latin Festival
Pentecost is considered the beginning of the Christian Church when by tradition, the Holy Spirit entered the disciples of Jesus who went forth and spread the word.
African and African Diaspora Film
The 31st New York African Film Festival screens African and Diaspora films on the theme “Convergence of Time;” at Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, May 17-19, and as FilmAfrica at the DanceAfrica festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. 🇧🇷 🇨🇬 🇨🇩 🇪🇬 🇫🇷 🇬🇭 🇮🇳 🇰🇪 🇳🇦 🇳🇬 🇷🇼 🇸🇳 🇸🇱 🇿🇦 🇹🇿 🇺🇸 🇿🇼
Colombian Film Festival
The 11th Colombian International Film Festival New York 2024 screens films of Colombia and the Diaspora; at Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village, on Sunday, May 19, 2024 starting at 12noon. From $14. 🇨🇴
Monday, May 20, 2024
Cuban Independence Day
Cuban Independence Day on May 20 celebrates the end of the U.S. occupation of Cuba on May 20, 1902. 🇨🇺
Haitian Founding Father Birthday
Remember Toussaint Louverture, the Haitian Revolution leader who was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti on May 20, 1743. 🇭🇹
Afro Dance Party
Midtown Dance teaches Afro Fusion with Sekou McMiller; in Greeley Square Park near Herald Square, Manhattan; on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 6-7pm. FREE.
Saturday, May 25, 2024
National Day
Celebrate Africa Day and the foundation of the Organization of African Unity on May 25, 1963. Isn’t it strange how George Floyd changed the world on Africa Day?
African American Who Changed the World
Remember George Floyd who was lynched by Minneapolis, Minnesota police on May 25, 2020. It’s hard to believe that still happens in the United States, but Floyd did not die in vain. His death shocked America and the world. It was the catalyst for what we call the Harlem Renaissance 3.0, another flowering of African Diaspora culture, and in fact the cultures of all people of color. George Floyd RIP. Very few people change the world, but you did. 🇺🇸
Argentine History
Remember the May Revolution of 1810 which launched the Argentine War of Independence on May 25, 1810. It was the first South American independence movement to succeed, and the beginning of the decolonization of the Americas. 🇦🇷
Puerto Rican Cultural Festival
The 152nd Street Cultural Festival is a family-friendly street fair of Puerto Rican music, culture, food, and activities for little Boricuas; on 152nd St between Jackson and Tinton Avenue in Longwood, The Bronx; over Memorial Day Weekend on Saturday, May 25, 2024 from 12-5pm. FREE. 🇵🇷
Major League Baseball
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Guyanese National Day
Guyanese Independence Day is May 26, 1966. 🇬🇾
Loisaida Street Fair (Alphabet City)
The 37th Loisaida Festival, “A Cultural Mosaic,” features a community parade, live music, theatre, food, artisanal crafts, and lots of family entertainment, on Loisaida Ave (Avenue C) in “Loisaida” Alphabet City, East Village, Manhattan; on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, May 26, 2024, from 12-5pm, rain or shine. FREE. 🇧🇷 🇩🇴 🇵🇷
Salsa Dance Party Outdoors
Salsa Sundays at Orchard Beach 2024 is a casual outdoor salsa dance party in Parking Section 5 at Orchard Beach, The Bronx from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend, on Sundays from 12-5pm. The dancing is free, but you have to pay for parking. 🇵🇷
American Festival
On Memorial Day, we remember all those who fought in America’s wars. May there be no more war. 🇺🇸
Salsa and Bachata Dance Festival
BIG Salsa Festival New York 2024 is a salsa and bachata dance festival with workshops, dance parties, master classes, and bootcamps; at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan; over Memorial Day Weekend, Friday-Monday, May 24-27, 2024. Full pass (workshops and parties) from $275. 🇨🇴 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷 🇪🇸
African and African Diaspora Film
FilmAfrica, part of the New York African Film Festival, screens and talks films from and about Cameroon at BAM Rose Cinemas in the Peter Jay Sharp Building at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, (BAM), in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from May 24-30, 2024. $17.50. 🇨🇲 🇺🇸
African and Diaspora Dance Festival
DanceAfrica 2024 celebrates the dance and music of Cameroon with “The Origin of Communities / A Calabash of Cultures,” featuring the DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers, Billies Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, and the Women of The Calabash singers; at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from Monday, May 27, 2024 at 3pm. From $25. 🇨🇲 🇺🇸
Free Memorial Day Classical Music
The New York Philharmonic Free Memorial Day Concert conducted by Jaap van Zweden; plays Wagner, Copland, and Brahms; at the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine; in Morningside Heights, Manhattan; on Monday, May 27, 2023 at 7pm. FREE.
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Bowery Slam is at the Bowery Poetry Club in NoHo, Manhattan; Mondays from 7-9pm (6:30pm doors). $20. 🇵🇷
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
African and African Diaspora Film
FilmAfrica, part of the New York African Film Festival, screens and talks films from and about Cameroon at BAM Rose Cinemas in the Peter Jay Sharp Building at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, (BAM), in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from May 24-30, 2024. $17.50. 🇨🇲 🇺🇸
Manhattanhenge
The year’s first half-sun Manhattanhenge sunset is Tuesday, May 28, 2024 at 8:13pm.
African Social Dance Party
Midtown Dance teaches African Social Dances with Judith McCarty; in Greeley Square Park near Herald Square, Manhattan; on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, from 6-7pm. FREE.
Manhattanhenge
The year’s first full-sun Manhattanhenge sunset is Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 8:12pm.
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Latin Food
International Potato Day is May 30. Potatoes were domesticated in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia between 8,000 and 5,000 BCE, and possibly before. They arrived in Spain around 1570. 🇵🇪 🇧🇴
African and African Diaspora Film
FilmAfrica, part of the New York African Film Festival, screens and talks films from and about Cameroon at BAM Rose Cinemas in the Peter Jay Sharp Building at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, (BAM), in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; from May 24-30, 2024. $17.50. 🇨🇲 🇺🇸
Tango Dance
Dance traditional Argentine tango at Tango La Nacional at La Nacional in Chelsea. Gets busy around 9pm. Performances at 11pm. Dancing until around 2am. $20 🇦🇷
Friday, May 31, 2024
Film Festival
The Brooklyn Film Festival 2024 opens with a screening of Indigenous French Canadian film “Soleils atikamekw” (Atikamekw Suns) at 7pm followed by an after party. The festival celebrates immersion at Windmill Studios in Greenpoint from May 31 to June 9, 2024; and the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg from June 1-9, 2024. Screenings. $18. Full Pass including the Opening Night screening and party is $100. 🇺🇸 🇩🇿 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇪🇬 🇫🇷 🇮🇱 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇵🇸 🇪🇸 🇻🇪
Puerto Rican Spoken Word
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Monthly Grand Slam is at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 10pm. From $25. 🇵🇷