The cities of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville have joined forces to address the critical need to protect and plan for cultural spaces and infrastructure in what is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) has made a grant of $140,000 for “Making Space for Art.”
Under this initiative, the three cities will survey artists, operators of arts spaces, and audiences to identify their most pressing needs and challenges and equip government planners and arts advocates with information that will help them have conversations with developers, enact policies to increase access to existing cultural infrastructure, reduce barriers to creating new arts spaces, and help make access to arts spaces more equitable.Project deliverables, including a digital planning platform prototype and a package of policy recommendations, are expected by late 2023
See Art Stays Here event below to get involved with grassroots activism around preventing artist displacement.
Calling all Boston area Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kathakali, Bhangra and Bollywood dancers, dance teachers and studio owners! BDA Board member Smitha Radhakrishnan and ED Debra Cash invite you to join us for a conversation about the Indian dance community — and how we can share resources to enhance and strengthen your studios, workshops, arangetrams, performances and community engagements. We’ll meet on Zoom Tuesday February 7 7-8:30 PM Contact dcash@bostondancealliance.org for the link.
We’re happy to welcome Aaron Myers, co-founder of A Trike Called Funk and Artistic Director of the Beantown Lockers, to the BDA Artists Advisory Panel.
Congratulations to Mass Cultural Council director Michael J. Bobbitt who was awarded the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion last night at the 55th Annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in recognition of his commitment to the arts and educational theater, and his notable career as a playwright, director, and arts leader.
We’ve started the new year by cleaning up our newsletter database! If you have a new email address or if you know someone that should be getting this newsletter who suddenly finds themselves without it, please reach out to crizzo@bostondancealliance.org and we’ll reinstate that subscription!
Pro/Motion comes to you every week, and it is just one of the free services Boston Dance Alliance offers to our community.
The Dance Complex welcomes Cassandre Charles back to Central Square Monday, February 6, 6:00-7:30 PM for Observations in Movement – Dance & Draw through your Process. Cassandre will introduce multimedia techniques to inspire the creative process in new ways. An “aha!” moment often comes when one is engaged in non-traditional mediums of expression. All levels and abilities of dancers and visual artists are invited to create a short choreographic phrase using this method. No one is required to show work, all invited to relax and have fun! Join in-person or virtually.
Mini Irish dance series in February. Rebecca McGowan offers a beginner friendly series at the First Church in Cambridge. Sign up with a friend (or two!) to learn the basic 7s and 3s, and a 2-hand or 3-hand dance together. Enjoy great music, have some laughs, and try something new! 3 Tuesdays in February, 7:40-8:30 PM . Advance registration only.
Tapped In! is a showcase of tap dance, rhythm, music, jazz, and community, organized by the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s new student-run and choreographed tap club. Get discounted group tickets or individual tickets. Tuesday, February 7, 8 PM at the Berklee Performance Center.
Join a public forum on preventing artist/music displacement in Greater Boston via Zoom. Learn about the decades-long problem; hear about current at-risk artist/music communities about to be displaced; hear directly from artists/musicians; learn about the #ARTSTAYSHERE Coalition, the movement to prevent artist displacement & how you can help. Wednesday, February 8, 7 PM. A Zoom link will be emailed by 6:30 PM on February 8.
The Harvard Dance Center presents Infinite Possibilities: the history, culture, and concepts behind freestyle dance. Join two days of free public events on the history, culture, and concepts behind freestyle dance, featuring Boston-based dancer, educator, curator, and community organizer Ashton Lites, aka Stackz, founding creative director of Stiggity Stackz Worldwide in partnership with and student-led dance group Harvard Breakers. The events will include live DJ’s, conversations, workshops, and mini battles, highlighting Boston’s vibrant freestyle dance community.
Infinite Possibilities Part 1: Thursday, February 9, 6-9 PM, ArtLab at Harvard
Infinite Possibilities Part 2: Saturday, February 11, 11:00 AM-1:30 PM, Lowell Lecture Hall
Celebrity Series presents Circa’s Sacre, a poetic and physical performance by ten acrobats set to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Pulsating with tension and infused with dark humor, this distinctive production from the Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz confronts humanity’s interconnectivity, sexual desire, and relationship with divinity. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 9-11, 8 PM at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre (265 Tremont Street). BDA Members enjoy up to four tickets at 20% off. Check your member discount page to get the code.
beheard.world gives a free public performance of Suite Talk at Chelsea High School 299 Everett Ave., Thursday, February 9 at 7 PM.
Femme Show founder Maggie Cee explores her years as a teenage gay rights activist, her identity, and fem history in Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar, 1938-1969. This performance brings the history of 20th-century fem(me)/butch lesbian bars to life, illuminating the feminine women whose stories are too often forgotten, but whose strength and determination paved the way for the gay rights movement that followed. Friday, February 10 and Saturday, February 11 at 8 PM, Sunday, February 12 at 7 PM. Performances at the Dance Complex and live-streamed.
Ohad Naharin, the developer of Gaga’s movement language, is back with a Special Online Session. Enjoy this dynamic exploration of Gaga & take a journey into your endless physical possibilities. The 75-minute session is open to experienced Gaga users as well as newcomers. Live on Saturday, February 11, 12:00 PM EST, rescreening on Sunday, February 12, 4 AM EST if you’re an early riser!
Online Egyptian Style Belly Dance Workshop for Intermediate and Advanced students and professionals/amateur dancers interested in Egyptian style pop choreography. Join Seyyide Sultan and learn some of her original choreography. Saturday, February 11, 3:30-5:30 PM.
Sans Dance Studio is hosting an open level Dancehall class with Wacky Calz. Saturday, February 11, 8:00-9:30 PM, Sans Dance Studio rm 103, Stacy Adams Cultural Arts Building, 33 Dover St., Brockton.
Join Team Todos for their Black Mamba’s Dance Social. Expect salsa, bachata, west coast swing and hustle social to take the dance floor. Sunday, February 12, 5:30-10:30 PM
South Shore Ballet Theatre (SSBT), the South Shore’s pre-professional ballet school, will host its Summer Intensive Dancer Auditions on Saturday, February 11, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM (ages 10-18), and 12-1 PM (ages 7-9), at SSBT’s studio, 45 Industrial Park Road, Hingham.
Young dancers can audition for North Atlantic Ballet’s The Little Mermaid, a fantastic opportunity for children to expand their performance skills working alongside professional dancers in an encouraging environment. Sunday, February 12, 1-2 PM (ages 8-10 (*No prior ballet training necessary) and 2:30-3:30 PM (ages 11+). Performances will be May 6 & 7 at The Cabot Theater in Beverly.
Audition for Urbanity’s Summer Intensive! Intermediate-advanced dancers ages 11-24 are encouraged to audition in-person or virtually. The 2023 program will run from July 31 – August 18 at the Boston Center for the Arts. In-Studio auditions will be held at Urbanity Central led by Summer Intensive Director, Meg Anderson, and will incorporate aspects of ballet, modern, jazz and contemporary techniques. Register for an audition on one of the following dates: Sunday, February 12, 3:00-4:30 PM, Saturday, March 4, 3:00-4:30 PM or Sunday, April 2, 12:00-1:30 PM. Video auditions are due by April 15, but please note that admissions into the program are on a rolling basis with a limited number of spots in the program – the sooner you submit a video audition the better!
Cambridge Community Fund grants are available to eligible 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations or entities operating under the fiscal sponsorship of a tax-exempt nonprofit– like BDA! — that serve the people of Cambridge. Individuals are not eligible. CCF offers flexible funding, allowing grant recipients to use the funds at their discretion, including for general operating expenses. The deadline to apply for a Spring 2023 grant is Monday, February 13.
McHale School of Irish Dance seeks an Irish Dance instructor. Strong background in Irish Dance and a love for working with children are a must. Weekday afternoon, evening and/or Saturday morning availability strongly preferred. Email resume to Louise at Info@McHaleSchoolOfIrishDance.com
Rental applications are now open for the following BCA spaces: BCA Plaza Theatre, BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre, and Nicholas Martin Hall in the Calderwood Pavilion. BCA has incredible multi-purpose spaces available at subsidized rates for performances, special events, rehearsals, concerts, or anything you’ve been dreaming up. This current application applies to rentals from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. Questions and supporting materials that cannot be submitted via the form can be emailed to Theatrerentals@bostonarts.org
Seeking 4 Boston/NH based dance collaborators for a new dance work to be presented this spring in Boston. The work is about the digital world, queerness and love. Reach out with a video, resume and statement of interest via email to llizwestbrook@gmail.com or via instagram @liizwestbrook
USArtists International® (USAI) supports U.S. artists’ engagements abroad with grants of up to $18,000 towards eligible expenses. The program funds individuals and ensembles across all performing arts practices and disciplines with eligible engagements at international festivals and global presenting arts marketplaces outside of the United States. Non-festival engagements in select countries are now eligible. Applicants with eligible performance engagements between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 can apply at the next deadline: March 29, 2023.
Introducing Boston WiP, a low stakes platform for dance and performing artists to present movement driven work. This first installment (of what will hopefully be a bi-annual showcase) will be held in the Jackson Gym Dance Lab at Tufts University. All forms of movement driven performance from artists at any stage of their professional career are welcome. Applications are due by March 17 at midnight. You will be notified about invitations to participate by March 25, 2023. Show Date is May 13 at 7 PM
Newlyweds dance at the Temple of Natarajar in Chidambaram in what they described as an exploration of “masculine and feminine together.”
You may nominate up to three individuals and you don’t need to be a BDA member to make your nomination.Deadline for nominations is Friday, February 10 at midnight. Propose the grantee here
Looking forward to celebrating our community with you later this year!
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Debra Cash, Executive Director