MDF Music & Dance Festival 2026 in Philadelphia

The Music & Dance Festival (MDF) brings together youth and young adults from across the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey, with dance troupes and choirs performing in categories by age and experience. Its second year ran February 13 to 16, 2026, at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, with 760 people attending over the festival.

The festival ran two competitions at once: an intermediate division for younger performers and an advanced division for older students. That meant two complete performance stages, in two different ballrooms.

Rear projection, so performers could move freely

Each stage had 20-foot projection screens fed by high-powered 16,000-lumen projectors from behind, with backdrops and draping around them. We flew the rear projectors on truss, which kept the space behind the screens clear: performers could walk “backstage” between pieces without crossing the projection or tripping over equipment, and the setup kept to safety protocols.

Sound built for music

At a dance festival, the music is the performance. Each ballroom had a large speaker array and powerful subwoofers, so every troupe’s music came through with full impact across the room, along with stage lighting for the performers.

Cameras, IMAG and a private stream

A 4K camera recorded the performances and fed IMAG to the side screens, so everyone in the ballroom could see the dancers up close. Viewers who couldn’t be in the room watched through a private Zoom webinar that we created, set up and managed for the festival.