Summer Sway
Attendance
Summer Sway is free and open to the public. Free ticket reservations are encouraged but not required.
The Summer Sway installation on the Plaza is open all week, with performances Fridays from 5 pm to sunset.
Join our mailing list for updates about participating artists.
About this program
Join us for Summer Sway as DJs, musical artists, dancers, and other performers take over The Shed’s outdoor Plaza in July and August, creating community through the joy and liberation we find in music and dance.
We’re celebrating the roots of hip hop and digging into the art forms and styles it has inspired, from breaking and graffiti to DJing and MCing. On Friday evenings, some of the city’s fiercest DJs, dance collectives, and artists will bring a party to the Plaza with free performances centering queer, trans, and BIPOC community-based and community-born art. Artists and collectives will include José Parlá, Clave Y Cuba, Papi Juice, Soul Summit, Ladies of Hip-Hop, Quiana Parks and guests artists for a dance cypher, DJ Perly, and other special guests.
Every day of the week, explore our public art installation—including a playlist, a graffiti artwork by QuOne, and a timeline of hip hop’s living history by Rakia Seaborn—that highlights the movement’s global social impact. The installation was produced by Neon Fab Studios.
West Side Fest
The performance on Friday, July 12 (artist to be announced) is part of West Side Fest, a celebration of arts and culture on the West Side of Manhattan organized by the West Side Cultural Network. Learn more about West Side Fest.
Schedule
JUL 12
West Side Fest
Quiana Parks
A dance cypher and exhibition battle led by Mario from Cypherbreak with breaker Emily “Powerflow” Dion and DJ Anthony Laid
JUL 19
Papi Juice with guest DJ Kenni Javon and guest dance performer Niala
JUL 26
DJ Perly
Uptown Vinyl Supreme
AUG 2
Michele Byrd-Mcphee, Ladies of Hip-Hop
AUG 9
Soul Summit
AUG 16
Clave Y Cuba feat. Shie Moreno and Román Díaz
Marcus Logan
José Parlá
Artists
DJ Perly is a highly respected Puerto Rican, Bronx-born DJ, turntablist, and producer from New York City. Perly is renowned for her dynamic performances that showcase deep musical knowledge and precise manipulation of music. She made history in 2017 as the first woman to win the DMC US Finals DJ Battle and repeated this feat in 2022, becoming the first and only woman to win two DMC USA National titles. Perly’s achievements include placing fourth in the 2017 DMC World Finals in London, the highest ever for a Woman, and third in the 2022 DMC World Beat Juggle Finals. She is a six-time DMC World Finalist, 2016 DMC NYC Regional Champion, and three-time Freestyle Monday Champion, as well as a member of the Heavy Hitters DJ Crew.
DJ Perly’s success is a true testament to talent, dedication, and perseverance; challenging stereotypes and proving gender is no barrier to excellence. She continues to influence the DJ community globally, promoting inclusivity and diversity. Perly has performed at prestigious venues worldwide including Carnegie Hall, and has performed alongside with legendary DJs like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Skratch Bastid and also opened for influential legendary acts such as De La Soul and Monie Love. Her DJ skills have been featured in Levi’s campaigns, and she’s been recognized with awards including DJane Mag’s Best Scratch DJ Award, a nomination for Global Spin Awards Turntablist of the Year.
A 2023 Bessie Award winner for Outstanding Service to the Field, Michele Byrd-Mcphee is a street dancer, an arts activist, and tireless advocate for girls and women who works to decolonize hip hop culture along gender, sex, and cultural and sociohistorical racial lines. With a BS from Temple University and an MS from Drexel University, Byrd-Mcphee has worked in different sectors of the entertainment industry, having been a production coordinator at Brooklyn Academy of Music and a senior music coordinator at Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Awarded the 2020 Integrated Arts Residency Fellowship at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Byrd-McPhee created and taught her course Hip Hop, Women, and the World. Byrd-McPhee has also served as a grant panelist for the prestigious McKnight Foundation, DanceNYC, and served as a voting member of the Bessie Award Committee. Presently, Byrd-McPhee continues her 20-year commitment as executive director for Ladies of Hip-Hop and artistic director of LDC (LOHH Dance Collective).
Ivan “Shie” Moreno was born in Centro Habana, immersed in the vibrant rhythms of Cuban music and dance. His upbringing sparked a lifelong passion for Afro-Cuban musical traditions, leading him to establish Clave Y Cuba, the only nonprofit dedicated to celebrating and documenting Afro-Cuban music across the Cuban Diaspora. In 2021, Ivan formed Clave Y Cuba’s New York–based collective of the culture’s leading musicians and dancers.
Known as “El Pintor” in the New York rumba community, Moreno combines his musical prowess with a deep visual art career. Moreno remains a dedicated musician, artist, and cultural leader committed to sharing the richness of Afro-Cuban musical traditions with global audiences.
Summer Sway’s Plaza installation, titled Reverb, represents a layering of many ideas, artistic contributions, and collaborative iterations. The form mimics a sound wave visualization, with the various arced elements evoking the wave as it expands and reverberates from a central source. Here, instead of a burst of sound, the energy emanates from a central dance floor. The installation includes seating for an audience to take in the activity around them, not only this summer’s music and dancing but a timeline of hip hop’s history engraved in the installation’s elements that encircle the dance floor, as well. This multidimensional presentation of sculpture, sound, movement, and history celebrates the evolution of hip hop and breaking, tracing the past into the present in NYC, where hip hop was born.
Produced by Alec Burney and Sean Billy Kizy (Neon Fab Studios) and fabricated by Fabhaus Beacon Inc. Rendering courtesy Neon Fab Studios.
Installation Creative Team
Program Credits
Darren Biggart, Director of Civic Programs
Christal Ferreira, Program Manager, Civic Programs and Visual Arts
Ben Young, Production Manager
Chris Genovese, Production Manager, Events/Rentals
Accessibility
Location and dates
July 12 – August 16
The Summer Sway installation on the Plaza is open all week, with performances Fridays, 5 pm to sunset.
The Shed’s Plaza is located on the east side of The Shed, where the High Line meets Hudson Yards at 30th Street. It is also accessible via Hudson Yards Public Square. View The Shed on a map.
For information about accessibility and arriving at The Shed, visit our Accessibility page.