Pro/Motion – week of June 17

Dear BDA community,

Happy Juneteenth! I hope you get a moment to reflect on freedom, equality and the essential influence of black culture in dance. I also hope you are staying hydrated during this heat wave. If you’re like me and love the sunshine warmth, get some outdoor time and soak up the heat while it lasts.

It was lovely to meet some of you at the Cambridge Arts River Festival this past weekend. Thank you for stopping by and chatting with me. We will soon announce the winner of the free year-long membership, so stay tuned!

Our lively dance community is also bringing in the heat as we move towards the end of June. There is so much dance to be seen, shared, and experienced. Scroll to find events close by and ways to stay involved.

Stay cool,

Carmen S. Rizzo, Operations and Membership Associate

Congratulations to our friends at José Mateo Ballet Theatre!

José Mateo Ballet Theatre was recently recognized as a Legacy Business by the City of Cambridge. This title is granted to longstanding, community-serving institutions. Their decades of cultural and accessibility contributions to Cambridge are receiving the formal recognition they deserve!

JMBT’s school has long boasted an excellent reputation for its comprehensive and humanistic approach, exceptional faculty, and nurturing environment that provides high-quality ballet education for students of all levels, body types, and backgrounds. Their professional company has brought artistic excellence to Harvard Square through José Mateo’s original ballets. Their outreach programs, including the Dance For World Community, their Bowdoin Street Health Center classes and Embodied Physics workshops, have been nothing short of life changing for so many. BDA congratulates everyone involved in making Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre the impactful organization it is.

BDA Member Events This Week

Tiny Fest brings you big talent from the Greater Boston and Worcester areas – from music to comedy, poetry to dance – sharing a tiny stage for one night only. Over the course of the evening, you’ll see some things that are familiar and many things that aren’t: ready to expand what you think live performance can be? So are we. If it gets too weird, there is always beer. Hosted by Decent Dance (Tony Guglietti and Kristin Wagner), featuring pole dance by Olivia Moon; contemporary dance by Leah Misano and Carmen S. Rizzo and so much more! Thursday, June 20, 7:30-9:00 PM at the Sterling Street Brewery, 175 Sterling St., Clinton. Tickets: $15.

FREE! – beheard.world presents Selma Again. Enjoy this special work of dance, poetry and original music. Afterwards, there will be a short audience talkback and a meet-and-greet with the artists. We are honored to be renting our portable floor for these performances. Saturday, June 22, 4:30 PM at Sennott Park, Cambridge, and Sunday June 23, 4:30 PM at the Franklin Field Housing development, 70 Ames Street, Dorchester.

Saving Grace Dance Ensemble welcomes over a dozen New England dance companies to share the beautiful outdoor stage at Windhover Center for the Performing Arts. This unique event promises to be a memorable evening. Artfulness is a strong, diverse, and exciting program with something for everyone. The program will include dance companies from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Monday, June 24, 7 PM at 257R Granite St, Rockport. Tickets: $25-$35.

I’ll Meet You There, an evening of dance with Jessica Roseman, reveals hidden truths about a mother’s capacity to produce life and thrive in Paradise. A mythological biography, the piece resources memory and invokes affirmations to explore themes of parenting and liberation, as well as perimenopause, stillbirth, and Black maternal health. A vulnerable, personal dance, Roseman relates with the audience with care, infusing her characters with playfulness and a generous spirit. Post performance talkback offered on Friday evening. Friday, June 21 & Saturday, June 22 at 7 PM, at Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge. Tickets: $15-$55.

OnStage Dance Company presents their Season 26 Performance, featuring brand new work in jazz, tap, contemporary, commercial, and modern by company members ​Mykayla Cohen, Maddy Dugan, Emily Hong, Jennifer Kuhnberg, Hannah Perry, Victoria Rousseau, and Erica Thorp. The Company is excited to welcome guest artists Maya Jain of Pistachio Groove and Raffi Pontes. Saturday, June 22, 2 & 7 PM at the Boston University Dance Theater, 915 Commonwealth Avenue (entrance on Buick Street), Boston. Tickets: $20-$50.

FREE! – Insider Ballroom: A Free Introductory Lesson combines professional ballroom dancing of the “American Smooth” category with personal storytelling from the performers: queer perspectives on franchised DanceSport. Your lesson experience includes a 35 minute presentation, followed by the opportunity to join Holly & Michael on the dance floor. There’s a chance you might learn a thing or two, there’s a chance you might find yourself entertained. But if the artists have done the job they’ve been trained to do, when all is said and done, you are going to want to buy what they are selling! Saturday, June 22, 8 PM, and Sunday, June 23, 7 PM at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. Donations accepted.

FREE! – Join Urbanity for a day of sample classes for all ages and levels at Urbanity HQ, 1180 Washington Street #100, Boston! Sunday, June 23
10:30-10:55 AM Early Childhood Class (Ages 1-3)
11:05-11:30 AM Kids Dance Class (Ages 4-5)
11:40-12:25 PM Contemporary Class and Youth Company Audition (Ages 6-18)
12:35-1:20 PM Hip Hop Class and Youth Crew Audition (Ages 6-18)
1:30-2:20 PM Adult Hip Hop and Contemporary Class (Ages 17+).

¡PA’LANTE!- Flamenco Dance Concert brings renowned Flamenco artists Alfonso Cid, José Moreno, Antonio Tiriti Tran, Sabrina Avilés, Yu-Ling Hu and dancers from Flamenco Dance Project & Yuling Spanish Dance for a night of inspiration and empowerment through the art of flamenco. Sunday, June 23, 6 PM at the Boston University Dance Theatre, 915 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. Tickets: $30.