The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a maximum for the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year (near June 21/22) is when the Sun is farthest North. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. The Summer Solstice marks the first day of the season of summer. – Eric Weissten’s “World of Astronomy” 

More information on the Summer Solstice: Space.com , Animations (NASA.gov) , National Geographic (Spanish) 

Click Here to watch URBAN-15’s 2020 Summer Solstice performances: URBAN-15 YouTube

Unable to make it out? Watch the performance LIVE on our Facebook and Instagram pages, beginning Thursday June 20th at 2pm CST!

For the 23rd Year, in celebration of the Summer Solstice, choreographer and dancer Catherine Cisneros will present her solo performance within the lighted squares of Christopher Janney’s “Passing Light” solar sculpture. “Passing Light” was commissioned by the City of San Antonio’s Public Art Office in 2000 and completed in 2001, celebrating its 20th anniversary. The solar sculpture incorporates large plexiglass squares embedded in the ceiling that project a grid of colors onto the passageway surface. Once a year, at 2pm on the Summer Solstice, the lighted grids align with the painted grids on the floor for less than a minute as the Sun passes directly overhead.  

URBAN-15 Artistic Director Catherine Cisneros has created a dance work that exploits the changing colors penetrating the environment. Her movements are designed to bring a ceremonial awareness of our planet’s humble travels within a celestial clock, evoking the elaborate rituals performed by the ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Celts, Mayans, Hindis, Incas and others to make visible the moment of solar zenith.