“Join us in reimagining partner dance.”

Motley Hue brings together people from around the world to participate in the joy of shared movement. Our events are fuelled by endless creativity, strong technique, and the freedom to color outside the lines of traditional dance forms. Each dance becomes a living experience of connection, community, and self-expression.

“Dance as art. Dance as celebration. Dance as discovery.”

Motley (adjective): Made up of many different colors, patterns, or elements; varied and diverse. Historically, “motley” referred to the multicolored patchwork clothing worn by court jesters and medieval travelers—cloaks pieced together from scraps of fabric in clashing hues and patterns, each patch telling its own story.

Hue (noun): A color or shade; a particular tint or variety of color.

Motley Hue (together): A collection of many different colors and shades; a vibrant patchwork of diverse elements coming together.

MOTLEY HUE NYC FLAGSHIP FESTIVAL

ABOUT MOTLEY HUE

What Is The History Of Motley Hue?

Motley Hue is an event production company hosting experiences meant to educate and inspire through the medium of partner dancing.

We currently create gatherings on both sides of the Atlantic: our large flagship festival in New York City, retreat-style gatherings in Europe, and immersive week-long intensives on both continents.

The company that is now Motley Hue has roots tracing back to 2012 with the creation of Melting Pot, a thriving monthly dance in the heart of New York City. Originally founded under Fusion Dance NYC by Flouer Evelyn, Alfredo Melendez, Sarah LaRocca, and Michael Burkhardt, this local gathering laid the foundation for larger festivals and everything that followed.

When Flouer Evelyn moved to Europe right before the pandemic, Motley Hue evolved into its own entity, separating from Fusion Dance NYC, which was passed on to local dancers who continue that work.

With the influx of the new post-pandemic generation of dancers, Motley Hue has embraced the new goal of equipping the emerging generation through weeklong intensive workshops and extensive teacher trainings.

Throughout all these transformations, our core values have remained constant: events that uplift and inspire, and classes fueled by endless creativity through strong technique.

We believe that every dance floor becomes a space for transformation – where movement meets possibility, and each connection writes a new story of what partner dancing can become.

OUR NYC FLAGSHIP FESTIVAL 2025 & THROUGH THE YEARS

Photography by Ishmael Fernandez & Class Pictures from 2025 Nicole Schlaeppi

You can check out all photos from past events on Our Facebook Page

Facebook Photos

What is Fusion Dance?

Fusion Partner Dancing is a community of worldwide partner dancers who are interested in dancing “outside” the boxes of traditional forms (such as tango or waltz). Instead of dancing a specific form to a specific kind of music, they draw from the many techniques of all partner dances to create personal, improvisational expressions to music.

Because dancers are coming from such diverse backgrounds, fusion dance can look and feel very different depending on who is dancing it. In it’s essence, fusion is the ability to be endlessly creative and say “yes!” to your partner, no matter what background they come from.

Most fusion communities use electronic music as a base for their sound because there is no traditional dance form already attached to this genre. The eclectic moods and rhythms available also inspires people to be creative outside the movement they already know. Depending on the scene you can also commonly hear classical music, pop, acoustic, folk, blues, soul, R&B, hip hop, sounds from Africa, the Middle East, and more.

“- Be yourself… because everyone else is already taken“

Motley Hue Video Project 2019

As a follow up project to our 2018 initiative to produce more examples of excellence in fusion dance, we were lucky to have musician and filmmaker David Keogh (@twelve.notes) film a few pairs of dancers on the pier in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Enjoy the dancing!

Motley Hue Video Project 2018

The goal behind this project was to produce more examples of excellent fusion dancing. We strive to inspire our community and showcase what we do to the general public. Enjoy!