11 am to 3 pm
Lighthouse Park, Roosevelt Island
FREE
Absorbing the Trees, City of Forest Day Roosevelt Island
Come celebrate the 5th year of The Nature Conservancy’s Forest For All NYC initiative’s annual citywide City of Forest Day right here on Roosevelt Island.
Join iDig2Learn, Coler Hospital, Main Street Theatre and Dance Alliance (MST&DA) and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) for fun activities.
At 11 AM come help with mulch and tree care for 100 young trees.
At noon enjoy Coler Hospital’s healthy snacks, Poppa Unlimited tasty bites, NiAva’s specialty body butters (while supplies last) and author Amanda Baehr Fuller’s Bunny Made Tea story time.
At 1 PM enjoy the mesmerizing Jody Sperling’s Time Lapse Dance ensemble perform excerpts from “Nature illuminated” thanks to support by co-hosts Main Street Theatre and Dance Alliance.
Stick around for City Of Birds jazz quartet compositions featuring alto saxophonist Elijah Shiffer & friends at 2 PM for a 45 minute set dedicated to the birds of New York City.
Generous support from NYC Green Fund, City Parks Foundation, RIOC, The Roosevelt Island Business Alliance (TRIBA), Trees New York, Forest for All NYC, CitizensNYC and individual donors like you make this event possible.
Rain location: Good Shepherd Church 543 Main Street, Roosevelt Island 10044.
Volunteers needed: please write idig2learn@gmail with the subject line FOREST volunteer to help out
ABOUT THE DANCE: The visually stunning program explores humanity’s relationship with nature. Featured works highlight the climate-engaged collaboration between Sperling and environmental composer Matthew Burtner. Appropriately for City of Forest Day, the program includes Arbor about the hidden intimacy of trees. Also featured are: Plastic Harvest, a romp about plastic proliferation; excerpts from Sea Change, reimagining our relationship to water in the wake of shifting tides that are reconfiguring places we call home; and a new surprise piece! All these works use the company’s signature transformational costuming that abstracts human movement into elemental and organic forces.
ABOUT THE MUSIC:
City Of Birds is a collection of jazz compositions by alto saxophonist Elijah Shiffer, dedicated to the birds of New York City. Elijah takes inspiration from birds in many elements of their lives including their voices, their behaviors, and their habitats. This music is mostly performed and recorded with a quartet including Kevin Sun (tenor sax), Dmitry Ishenko (bass), and Colin Hinton (drums). Four albums of this music have been released so far; more are scheduled in fall 2026 and beyond. Elijah played this music at the American Ornithological Society conference in 2024 and plans to perform for other bird and nature organizations in the near future.
