Whether you celebrated May the 4th or Cinco de Mayo (or both), I hope you had a fantastic weekend and were able to enjoy some dance! As we move along teacher appreciation week, I extend a special thank you to all the dance teachers in our community. It is not an easy task to teach technical and expressive aspects of our craft, yet none of us would be where we are in our careers without teachers’ guidance. To pass along the joy, power, and purpose of dance is truly such a beautiful part of growing the community. I am truly grateful for all those who have been my teachers and those who teach dance in any capacity. Thank you for giving people access to dance.
May is also AAPI Heritage Month! We’re beyond lucky to have a strong representation of AAPI dancers in the Boston area. We’d like to highlight our AAPI fiscal sponsees: Anjali Nath (who has an incredible weeklong festival coming up at the end of the month), Asian American Ballet Project (that is currently running a fundraiser), Boston Peking Opera Studio, and SundanceX. We’re honored to fiscally sponsor such incredible and diverse work.
Thank you for being a part of our community,
Carmen S. Rizzo, Operations and Membership Associate
Congratulations to the 2024 Boston Cultural Council Grantees
Mayor Michelle Wu and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, in collaboration with the Boston Cultural Council (BCC), announced 104 arts and cultural organizations have been awarded grants totaling $927,500 through this year’s Boston Cultural Council grant program, of which 17.7% were directed to dance. BDA extends a special congratulations to the dance organizations and projects that received this grant:
Congratulations to Fiscal Sponsee Dance in the Schools!
Dance in the Schools completed its 27th consecutive year for up to 900 students in all twelve Cambridge Elementary Public Schools. The program brought a team of eleven professional dance teaching artists from the Greater Boston area to teach sessions in 46 classrooms, which ranged from Special Start (pre-school) through fourth grade.
Understanding through movement is unique in its ability to reach every child and include every student in the classroom, regardless of race, gender identification, ability, religious and cultural background, ethnicity, and language. The dance teaching artists helped students discover new entryways into academic subject matter, which classroom teachers found invaluable.
BDA Member Events This Week
FREE! – Kaleidoscope’s Gender-Expansive Ballroom Dance class with Holly Stone is a part of a week long celebration of queer visions and futures at the Boston Center for Figuratice Arts. Join this intro level American Foxtrot lesson with a gender–expansive approach, followed by an open social dance featuring a variety of dance styles. All levels welcome and encouraged to join. Any donation tickets will go directly to the class instructor. Thursday, May 9, 6:30-8:00 PM, at the Boston Figurative Art Center, 285 Washington Street, Somerville.
Naughty Bits is a dance-play set inside Sara Juli’s memories. Through movement, text, song, projections, and humor, Sara builds, and ultimately reclaims, her own process of processing trauma—uncovering the forgotten bits, funny bits, and wobbly bits of putting one’s mind and body back together. Thursday, May 9, & Friday, May 10, 7 PM at The Hill Arts, 76 Congress Street, Portland, ME. Tickets: $25-$29.
Neena Gulati and the Triveni School of Dance present Anubhava: The Senses. From time immemorial, humans have made use of the senses to interact with the world around them. There is nothing in our knowledge that did not pass through our senses first. Reflect on this journey with our narrator and experience the intrigue of smell, the comfort of touch, the enchantment of hearing, the delight of taste, and the feeling of sight. Friday, May 10, 8 PM, Saturday, May 11, 3 PM at Boston University Dance Theater, 915 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. Tickets $20-$50.
Join this Mindful Movement Workshop and reconnect to your essential self through full-body conscious movement. Kieran Jordan welcomes dancers and any person interested in movement as a healing art at Northeast Arts. Saturday, May 11, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM, 85 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain. Registration: $20.
The Bang Group, under the co-direction of two of Boston’s favorite dance sons, David Parker and Jeff Kazin, bring NY and Beantown dance companies together in two weekends of performances. Often funny, sometimes poignant and with a reputation for beautifully crafted evenings of dance, DANCE NOW Boston has become a must see of the Spring season. The first program on Saturday, May 11, 8 PM & Sunday, May 12, 7 PM features venerated Boston artists Jimena Bermejo, Lynn Modell, Marcus Schulkind, and Tony Williams along with The Bang Group from NYC. The second program on Saturday, May 18, 8 PM & Sunday, May 19, 7 PM will feature innovative Boston artists Joe Gonzalez, Audrey MacLean, Boston Dance Theater’s Trainee Program, Felipe Galganni and The Bang Group. All performances will take place at The Dance Complex. Tickets: $10-$50.
Other events in the community this week:
Movelikezay hosts a pop up workshopWednesday, May 8, 8:30 PM at Phunk Phenomenon, 1886 Revere Beach Parkway. Registration: $20Boston Ballet presents Spring Experience featuring works by William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián and a Ken Ossola World Premiere. Thursday, May 9-Sunday, May 19 at the Citizens Bank Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston. Tickets: $25-$205
Biodanza is a community practice of play, presence and rest that brings together movement, music and emotion to open up new ways of moving through life and relating with ourselves and each other. All are welcome and no experience needed. Saturday, May 11, 1:30–3:30 PM at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St.,Cambridge. Registration: $25-$40
FREE! – Isaura Oliveira leads AfroBrazilian Dance & Rhythm Workshop Series. An intergenerational gathering to practice Samba da Bahia. Joy as Resistance invites you to dance, sing, body percussion, storytelling through the most popular cultural expression of Brasil. Saturdays, May 11-June 29, 12:30- 2:00 PM at the Roxbury Public Library, 700 Boylston St., Nubian Square, Boston.
Kids and teens, ages 3-18, are invited to register for the Bollywood Superstars. Registration is open until May 31 on a rolling basis. Participants will learn from some of the resident experts in Bollywood in Boston and get the chance to perform on stage. Practices will take place every Sunday for 1 hour between 2-6 PM in Allston, MA.
Abilities Dance Boston is hiring a full-time Community Engagement Director to work closely with the Executive Director to co-create and implement the strategy for their community engagement program. They would support the teachers and partner sites in sustaining and developing long term relationships to continue providing largely free adaptive dance education to diverse populations across greater Boston. ADB also seeks a full-time Marketing Director to work closely with the Executive Director to co-create and implement the strategy for all communications and public relations messages to consistently articulate ADB’s mission. If interested, please submit resume and cover letter to abilitiesdanceboston@gmail.com for consideration.
Join José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s 36th annual production of TheNutcracker this holiday season. JMBT welcomes dancers of all backgrounds to audition for its professional company and character roles for the upcoming Nutcracker season. Professional dancers, adult ballet students, and college students are all encouraged to audition. Auditions will be held both in-person at JMBT studios located in Harvard Square and via video submission. Preference will be given to local dancers from the Greater Boston area. Commitment includes 17 shows December 6-22, at the Strand Theatre, Dorchester. Rehearsals will take place November 12-December 22, Monday–Friday, 9 AM–4 PM (may include some weekends as necessary to rehearse with the children’s cast), at the JMBT Studios, 400 Harvard Street, Cambridge. Live audition will take place Tuesday, May 14 12 PM, at JMBT Studios (Harvard Square location). For video submissions include 2 or 3 videos (performance excerpts or ballet class exercises). Submissions should be a total of 5-10 minutes. Videos should be high quality with a clear showcase of dance technique and simple editing. Auditions will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Dancers can expect a decision within two weeks of submission. Early submissions are encouraged. Deadline: September 21.
Madison Florence is seeking dancers for choreography project! Started in 2019, this piece is a look at the stories of people working in space sciences and their endless interest in what exists outside our world. Join this exploration and creation process culminating in an evening-length work. Application deadline is Wednesday, May 15.
Iris Fanger is writing an advance about spring and summer dance performances for the Boston Globe. Email Iris at ifanger@aol.com with your listings by Friday, May 10.
