The big dance party benefit scheduled for the Bearsville Theater this Saturday, May 14 may be the quintessential Woodstock party of the day. It’s being put on by the daughter of two community leaders – a doctor and a psychologist who moved to town in the 1980s – to raise funds for her project aiding children in Peru, which had its roots in a year away from home that Dahlia Rissman took between high school and college studies. Rissman’s Corazón de Dahlia’s Center for Community Development in Peru has grown from the same outward-opening heart projects that Woodstock has favored for generations, including a major push to help a single Latin American town in the 1990s.

Corazón de Dahlia’s Center for Community Development, which opened in the ancient Andean city of Cusco last summer, is designed to provide children and families with opportunities for social and academic enrichment, emphasizing respect for the people and land around them. It has a growing staff, paid for in large part by support from the Woodstock community, and is planning new environmental and recycling awareness programs, English and computer classes for children and adults and the creation of a media library with educational DVDs and computer software for use by the community.

Most importantly, what will draw everybody out Saturday night will be what is arguably the best dance band in the Hudson Valley and Catskills these days, to which it may be impossible not to shake a tailfeather: the salsafied Latin ensemble Soñando. A full Latin orchestra band with horns and percussion, Soñando plays salsa, merengue, rhumbas, son and a host of newer sounds, and draws its own crowd whenever it plays. Think Perez Prado on hyperdrive. Given the danceable nature of the Bearsville Theater, from its concert area to its wide, accommodating bar lounge, a greater party atmosphere could hardly be imagined.

In addition to the music and dancing, benefit activities will include a silent auction featuring art and gift contributions from local artists and stores, including Elliot Landy, Michael Lang, Bistro-to-Go, Bread Alone and New World Home Cooking; food and dessert made by trained chefs from the Culinary Institute of America; and what promises to be a true mix of Woodstock’s various generations, from Rissman’s contemporaries and their younger siblings to their parents and older friends.

It all goes down Saturday, May 14 at the Bearsville Theater, with doors opening at 7 p.m. for an 8 p.m. event start. For further information on the benefit itself, including directions to the venue’s Tinker Street (Route 212) address, call (845) 679-4406 or visit www.bearsvilletheater.com. For more on Dahlia Rissman’s Peruvian Community Development Center in Cusco, visit www.corazondedahlia.org.