Falling for Dance All Over Again

Thank you to everyone who made the 2022 BDA Open Call/Dancer Health Day on Sunday such a success!

Ballet Embodiment, taught by Melissa Sallee and Martha Tornay

Credit: Olivia Moon Photography

We’ll be sharing more images soon!

Photo of BIPOC artists nominated as The Makers by wbur.

Congratulations to Olivia Moon, Victoria Awkward, and Lilly Rose Valore for being featured on WBUR’s Makers series profiling 15 artists of color leaving an imprint on Massachusetts culture!

Noche de Salsa poster. Purple background with information displayed in neon light font.

Next Noche de Salsa at the Cantab is this Monday, September 26. It will be held at a new, larger space downstairs so come check it out! DJ D. Martinez will be spinning a mix of salsa, bachata and merengue guaranteed to keep you on the dance floor from 8:30 PM to 12:30 AM at 738 Mass Ave., Central Square, Cambridge.

Three baroque dancers pose in front of a dim-lit mirrored space.

An exceptional creative team led by Phil Chan, award-winning dancer, choreographer and arts activist, has reimagined and restaged Ballet des Porcelaines through a 21st-century lens. Following its premiere at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this long-lost allegory about the intense European desire to know and possess the secrets of Asian porcelain will be performed at the Peabody Essex Museum and at MIT by members of the Oakland Ballet Company, led by artistic director Graham Lustig.
Tuesday, September 27, 12 PM and 5 PM, Wednesday, September 28, 12 PM at the MIT Theater Building (W97)
Saturday, October 1, 11 AM and 2 PM at Morse Auditorium, Peabody Essex Museum.

Christina, a pale skinned femme presenting person with short dark hair, stands agains a dark wooden wall and smiles at the camera.

Want to unearth the best language to write about your practice? Interested in creating or redesigning a website? Looking to improve the contracts you sign with venues or partners? Assets for Artists has an amazing new series of free online workshops for you! Make Your Website Work for You with Christina Balch
happens this Tuesday, September 27, 2 – 4 PM.

Two tango dancers, one in a long white dress and another in a black suit dance together, embraced, in an open space with wooden floors.

Free Argentine Tango Workshop with Dance Caliente. Ready to add a little passion and emotional fire to your life? If the answer is yes, then this dance of arm and leg embraces is just what you need. Be prepared to laugh and giggle as we embrace you with our teaching style. Wednesday, September 28, 7:00-8:30 PM at the Bonsignore Hall Charlotte and William Bloomberg, Medford Public Library, 111 High Street, Medford.

Mariel Gastiarena, a pale-skinned femme presenting dancer, wears a red shirt with flowers and rolled up sleeves and poses with hands on hips and smiles to the camera. Background is a brick wall.

Boston Lindy Hop is excited to announce a workshop with visiting instructor from Argentina, Mariel Gastiarena. Authentic Jazz Class with Mariel Gastiarena is going to be a challenging solo jazz class designed for experienced jazz dancers. Thursday, September 29, 7-9 PM, at Back Room, Brookline.

Dancer outdoors in a pink flowery field holds hands to chest with eyes closed.

Transmute An Infinity∞Dance Collective Show with special guest artists Erica Cornejo & Carlos Molina, and Pre-Professional Dancers of Integrarte. Transmute is about the energy that connects us all and the soul expansion & transformation that can happen with universal love of community. Hybrid at at Multicultural Arts Center (MAC) / Cambridge Community Center for the Arts (CCCA) and online on zoom. Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 7-9 PM

Black male-presenting violinist plays the violin, wearing a black shirt in a black background.

The Telling. Experience instrumental solos, dance and chamber music that responds to Black trauma and affirms Black joy. Surrounded by singers, dancers, and strings at Providence’s majestic WaterFire Arts Center, how can we, the living, honor the lost? Features Melvin Chen, Becky Bass, Albert Rudolph Lee, MusicWorks Collective, Shura Baryshnikov, Victoria L. Awkward and Jay Breen. Thursday, September 29, 8 PM at the WaterFire Arts Center.

Two dancers hold hands sideways and reach opposite arm outwards as they step their outmost foot back.

Watch Eileen and Raul perform at Dancing Joy with Dance Caliente, an Interactive Ballroom Dance Show designed to sweep you off your feet! Not only will they perform dances like the Waltz, and Argentine Tango, but after each visual delight, you will be invited to learn some of the moves. Free, on Friday, September 30, 1-2 PM at the Medford Senior Center, 101 Riverside Avenue, Medford.

Flamenco at Starlight led by Laura Sanchez happens in Central Square Fri, Sep 30 at 7 PM Flamenco at Starlight is an opportunity for the community to connect and share the joy of dance and bring to Cambridge the tradition of flamenco.

Motion State Dance Film Series Season 5 Launch Dance films under the stars, for free! The fifth season of the Motion State Dance Film Series features contemporary dance films from Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the USA.
Friday, September 30, 7:30 PM at The Courtyard at The Plant, 60 Valley St, Providence, RI.

Black dancer in colorful top in movement looks down over right shoulder.

Reconsidering, presented in partnership with RootsUprising
and Theatre for the People is an embodied discussion of the intersectional experience of women of color through both their spatial and temporal circumstances. The evening of sharing includes six “dancing texts” from RootsUprising’s repertoire, including the premier of three new works, Entangled Gaze, So Noted and Rooted We Are. Friday, September 30 – Saturday, October 1 at 8 PM, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown.

Dancer in dark leotard holds on to a thin tree trunk in front of them. Dancer's face is half covered by tree trunk.

THE CLICK, formed from collaborations forged during the pandemic, launches a free, Augmented Reality (AR) dance experience centered in Cambridge’s Kendall Square and accessed through mobile devices Saturday, October 1 at 1 PM. “Emotive Lands,” incorporates dance, music, film and technology that animates the natural and built environments of the tech-focused neighborhood, and investigates the need for harmony among art, culture, innovation and nature.

Introduction to the Danceability Method is a workshop designed for dancers, dance teachers and movement practitioners who are interested in integrating more inclusive approached into their teaching and practice. The focus is on dissolving barriers and eliminating isolation in dance communities.
Sunday, October 2, 10 AM – 5 PM at Casco Bay Movers Dance Studio, 517 Forest Ave, Portland, ME.

"A Taste of Bosnia & Herzegovina Festival" written in bllue over a white background. Three circuluar images below it show the food, dancers and musicians from previous festivals.

Dance to Gogofski at the Bosnian festival, presented by the New England Friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The location is the open area at Harvey and Cedar Street, Cambridge, entrance off of Cedar Street. Admission is free. Sunday, October 2, 12-6 PM.

Purple, blue and green faded background with The GroovaLottos' and Abilities Dance's logos.

The GroovaLottos present Bronx Jazz, a musical conversation between father and son about hip hop, jazz and oral tradition from the souls of Black folks. Join New Rep for this celebration also featuring Abilities Dance Boston. Sunday, October 2 at 4 PM.

Dancers with hats covering most of their faces and wearing black costumes, stack their forearms in front of their own chests.

Traka, the newest work from Cambridge-based Haitian choreographer Jean Appolon, means “Troubles” in Haitian Creole and explores how dance, community, and culture are pathways to healing from traumatic events. Inspired by Appolon’s own healing process after his father was murdered in Haiti’s 1991 coup, Traka uses Haitian folkloric dance and contemporary dance to depict the journey of a country and a people working through generational trauma.
Sunday, October 2, 7:30 PM at Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge. Also available as a streaming performance premiering Thursday, October 13 at 4 PM.

"The King of All the World" written in white over a yellow background with a purple skull and small images of 7 dancers scattered around the poster.

BDA is proud to cosponsor El Rey de Todo el Mundo/The King of All the World which will be screened Sunday, October 2 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, as the finale of the CineFest Latino experience. You’ll see Manuel is preparing his next show, a musical about making a musical show. Powerful Mexican music sets the tone and a play will emerge in which tragedy, fiction and reality intertwine. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Dance on Camera Festival poster. Photo of dancers embracing with textured fabrics.

Last chance to submit your dance film to the Dance Films Association Dance on Camera Festival. Dance on Camera Festival welcomes submissions from filmmakers working in all aesthetic disciplines within the dance film genre, including narrative, documentary, animation and experimental. Dance on Camera encourages national and international submissions of films, which uniquely interpret the relationship between dance and film. Deadline: Friday, September 30.

Green poster with 3 images of previous productions with many cast members, all wearing colorful clothing.

Tafuta Auditions! Audition to be a part of Tafuta, a young child’s search for the true meaning of Kwanzaa.
Sunday, October 2, 12:00-1:30 PM. For more information, email: info@originationinc.org

Dancer on a dim-lit stage extends one leg back and reaches one arm up as the other is bend in front of their chest. dancer is off-balance and seemingly falling forwards.

Project31 Seeks Artists and Apprentices for its 2022-2023 Season. They are looking for versatile dancers with strong ballet and modern techniques comfortable performing a variety of styles. . Dancers 14+ that have the maturity to work in a professional environment will be considered for the apprenticeship. Dancers must be available for performances Saturday, December 10th & February 3rd-5th. Follow link for all the details! Audition is Sunday, October 2, 12:00-2:30 PM at Project31 Dance Studio, 222 Weymouth Street, Rockland.

Two dancers in a dark space with big white geometrical shapes. One dancer lifts their leg behind them and reaches one arm up behind them and the other arm towards the other dancer. This other dancer is in a lower position, supporting themselves with one arm hooked on the other dancer's extended arm, one hand on the ground and one foot one the ground, while their other leg bends behind the supporting one.

Urbanity has opened applications for their Studio Grant Program! In response to the urgent need for affordable rehearsal space for the performing artist community in Boston, Urbanity, along with support from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture is offering Free Space through its new Subsidized Rentals Program. The goal is to create opportunities for diverse performance artists to access high-quality, accessible studio space, at no cost to the artist.

Married for 50 years, Dietmar and Nellia demonstrate what it looks like to “never stop jiving”.

BDA thanks everyone who participated in Sunday’s Open Call Audition and Dancer Health Day — the volunteers working the registration desk, the master teachers who taught with such knowledge and care, the dance medicine clinicians who brought their A game to help Boston dancers protect and strengthen their bodies, the BDA Board members who stepped in to help and shared their pride, and all of YOU who created a sense of renewed purpose and community.

Special thanks to Irada Djelassi for her gracious hosting at Mass Motion Dance Boston in Brighton — a great place to dance! — and to Carmen Rizzo, BDA’s Operations and Membership Associate, who worked so hard both as the friendly face at the registration desk and behind the scenes doing everything from setting up the online registration systems to creating our social media marketing.

It takes a community, and we’re proud to be part of this one.

__________
Debra Cash, Executive Director