Short articles about dance performances in Cambridge and Somerville
The Click dance group’s “Trembled to Walk On” takes its name from an 1841 poem about a real body in armor found buried in Fall River in 1832. The duet has another layer, though – about preserving history, and a government trying to destroy it.
The Click’s “Trembled to Walk On” dance duet embodies Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1841 poem “The Skeleton in Armor,” about a body discovered nine years earlier in Fall River buried in armor and in a seated position. Performed at Longfellow’s home in Cambridge, a national historic site, the piece has political relevance: “The current administration is stripping resources from the National Park Service and other organizations attempting to preserve history,” choreographer Alexandria Nunweiler said. “Now more than ever it is important that we consider how we preserve what came before us, who is being included, who is being left out and why, and what can we do … art is a way to preserve history, and that’s what I’m trying to do with this piece.” The event opens with a reading, followed by the performance and a workshop in which dancers show audience members how they too can turn poetry into movement.
Dancers start young – sometimes between 2 and 5 years old – and are expected to be ready for a career in their teens. “All of the dancers in Pluto Return are in or entering our 40s,” co-founder Emily Vincent said.
Dancers start young – sometimes between 2 and 5 years old – and are expected to be ready for a career in their teens. “All of the dancers in Pluto Return are in or entering our 40s,” co-founder Emily Vincent said, “and coming back to dance is a way to return to our bodies.” It’s the theme of the troupe’s first evening-length show, “Rewilding,” which Vincent said takes inspiration from the ecological concept of “returning nature to how it was before humans interfered.” The show asks how people can return wildness to their bodies and what it even means to return to yourself, with each segment and choreographer having different stories to tell. “One of the pieces explores gender expectations and pushing back against gender norms. Society often tries to put people into boxes, and we wanted to use movement to convey what it feels like to break out,” Vincent said.
“Receding and Reemerging” presents six short – and original – ballets through an Asian American lens, including “Spectre de la Rose,” a 1911 Ballet Russes classic restaged inside a World War II Japanese American internment center.
“Receding and Reemerging” presents six short – and original – ballets through an Asian American lens, including “Spectre de la Rose,” a 1911 Ballet Russes classic restaged inside a World War II Japanese American internment center. “We are performing one classical piece through an Asian American perspective, three different folk tales we haven’t seen in ballet and two additional contemporary ballets examining current issues such as transracial adoption and LGBTQIA+ rights,” said Beth Mochizuki, founder and artistic director of the Raynham-based Asian American Ballet Project, formed in 2022 and the first Asian American ballet company in the country. (Something else to look out for in the production: The company’s use of contemporary ballet, which infuses elements of modern dance with the classical.) “Diversity and the arts are both under attack right now, so this is an opportunity for us to not only represent Asian Americans in ballet but also to use our voice and highlight these topics through movement,” Mochizuki said.
The New Duncan Dance Project reimagines works by the “mother of modern dance” – in her 1891-1913 heyday, one of the first to push back against the norms and restraints of classical ballet.
The New Duncan Dance Project reimagines Isadora Duncan’s work for today while preserving the legacy of the “mother of modern dance” – in her 1891-1913 heyday, one of the first to push back against the norms and restraints of classical ballet. “Some of the choreography in our repertoire is her choreography. Other parts have been modified for our bodies today,” project co-director Sandy Zarotney Keldson said. In the upcoming “My Body My Dance,” the group presents Duncan’s work within the context of current events. “Duncan was very vocal about her beliefs, specifically about bodily autonomy and women’s rights. When we were conceptualizing this concert we chose dances that connected to those beliefs,” co-director Kelli Edwards said. “With bodily autonomy being stripped away and funding for the arts being cut left, right and center, we believe it is so important to share this work.” Edwards said the nine project dancers, of varying ages, personify the question Duncan sought to answer: What are we allowed to do with our body?”
In “Origin,” its first full-length show, Exceptional Dance Co. presents 14 new pieces – contemporary, with room for tap and hip-hop – about maintaining humanity during times of animosity.
In “Origin,” its first full-length show, Exceptional Dance Co. presents 14 new pieces – contemporary, with room for tap and hip-hop – about maintaining humanity during times of animosity. The theme extends offstage: Established in June 2024, Exceptional was designed to provide a place for adult dancers to continue their craft in a safe and supportive environment. “We are living in a time where I think it’s important to champion compassion,” founder and artistic director Lindsay Gibbons says. (Which is not to say the dance lacks rigor; as at any company, members are told to “leave their problems at the door” at rehearsals or class, Gibbons says.) The centerpiece of the night is its longest, called “The Things We Carry.” Gibbons describes is as “an exploration of the things that trickle down between generations. Perhaps something happened to your great-grandmother and that has impacted how you and your mother operate today.”
Considering dancers rehearse for months for a single performance it’s unsurprising that some months see fewer shows – and for July and August, Cambridge-Somerville stages go largely dark. (Theaters also take a summer hiatus.)
Our June has been filled with dance, but considering dancers rehearse for months for a single performance it’s unsurprising that some months see fewer shows – and for July and August, Cambridge-Somerville stages go largely dark. (Theaters also take a two-month summer hiatus.) We asked around to find why the next two months are so reliably quiet, talking with four local heads of companies and longtime dancer-choreographers, and none knew exactly why. The most probable reason, though, is dancer availability: Many go on vacation over the coming months, with some headed to the famed Jacob’s Pillow center in Becket for the festival running through the same months things are all but silent here. Others split their time between the studio and beach, preparing mentally and physically for the upcoming season after an adrenaline-filled spring of shows. “Our company was founded in June of 2024, so having our first show around the one-year date made sense,” Exceptional Dance director Lindsay Gibbons said. The summer is not a total dead zone, either. For some, it’s a great time to debut works in progress. Alexandria Nunweiler has a piece premiering at the July 19 ArtBeat festival in Somerville’s Davis Square. Because it’s part of a larger show, “it’ll be nice to see it on stage in a lower-pressure setting before putting the entire show together,” Nunweiler said. “I just had a show at the beginning of June, so I’m looking forward to things slowing down a little.”
The theme of the year’s ArtBeat festival, “Freeze,” will be explored in dance too, in Alexandria Nunweiler’s “Shoulder” and Spero’s “Line Dance.”
The theme of the year’s ArtBeat festival, “Freeze,” will be explored in dance too. Alexandria Nunweiler presents “Shoulder,” a duet that is a part of a longer piece called “Salvage” dealing with religion. “‘Shoulder’ explores this idea of liminal space and sacred presence – the name comes from the concept of having an angel and a devil on your shoulder,” Nunweiler said. “We explore what it means to be overcome with emotion and simply freeze because of it, leaning into the fight, flight or freeze reaction.” Courtney and Camryn Spero of Spero Dance takes the theme in another direction in their first show for Greater Boston. “‘Line Dance’ explores the idea of being frozen in time while time continues to move forward,” Camryn Spero said, unlocking a double meaning in the title: “The phrase ‘timeline’ is often used colloquially, and then line dance is permeating the social scene – so a dance about time’s insistence on moving forward on the line.” Pasy Naay Leer Dance, Dara Capley, Clara Ramona and Jo-Me Dance also have pieces at ArtBeat.
This year’s Feet Keep the Beat festival showcase performance includes the tap, flamenco, West African dance, step and kathak percussive dance styles
The “Lineage” theme of the third annual Feet Keep the Beat festival invites dancers to explore traditions of percussive dance – in which the feet create a rhythm like a percussive instrument – and pay homage to its leaders. Arts at the Armory co-director and chief executive Stephanie Scherpf created the festival to bring various local artists together; this year’s performance includes tap, flamenco, West African dance, step and kathak. “The term percussive dance encompasses so many different styles and art forms, and this festival has facilitated an intercultural exchange.” Scherpf said. “It’s been interesting to see the similarities across the various dance forms when the main uniting factor is the percussive element.” The Aug. 1 festival performance showcases the different styles; Aug. 3 brings free classes for audience members to try what they saw on stage. “This festival is a celebration of local artists and it’s really exciting to also be able to highlight different gurus or teachers in the different styles,” Scherpf said.
“I kept thinking, wouldn’t it be great if we got together and announced our dance season so it felt like it had the excitement of a pre-Emmys red carpet show?”
The second annual “Fall Into Dance” is a preview of Greater Boston’s upcoming dance season. The gathering is the brainchild of Peter DiMuro, executive artistic director at The Dance Complex. “In many cities I’ve lived in, including Boston, there’s a lot of dance happening, but it’s dispersed,” DiMuro said. “I kept thinking, wouldn’t it be great if we got together and announced our dance season so it felt like it had the excitement of a pre-Emmys red carpet show?” The Dance Complex partners with ArtsBoston and the Boston Dance Alliance for the event, which includes an excerpted performance from “Belonging and Othering” by Beheard.world choreographed by Anna Myer and co-director Jay Paris. A kickoff for the season can accomplish even more, DiMuro said: “By bringing together dancers from across the city, I hope we can dispel some myths about the Boston dance community [and show] a large spectrum of dance in the city in terms of styles, sizes and focus.”
The Rasik Dance Concert Series, which answers an overall lack of classical Indian dance in Boston, highlights in October mohiniyattam, a style of dance even more rarely seen here compared with styles such as kathak and bharatanatyam.
Sapna Govindan and Priya Bangal, who filled a lack of classical Indian dance in Boston with their Rasik Dance Concert Series, bring to town Neena Prasad, “truly a master of the mohiniyattam style, and her abhinaya tells a story,” Govindan said. Mohiniyattam is a style originating in Kerala in Southwestern India known for its grace and subtle gestures of the hands and facial expressions – abhinaya is the art of emoting in the dance – and rarely seen here, Bangal said, compared with styles such as kathak and bharatanatyam. The form and the music it’s paired with have co-developed, and Prasad will perform alongside Changanasseri Madhavan Nampoothiri (vocals), Ramesh Babu (mridangam, a double-headed barrel drum), Kalamandalam Arundas (idakka, hourglass shaped drum) and Shyam Kalyan (violin). “Their long-standing relationship allows space for Dr. Prasad to improvise, something she’s excellent at,” Bangal said. Prasad’s accolades for performing and choreography include the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, India’s highest honor in the arts. “Her artistry draws the audience in as she shares a story through movement,” Bangal said.
The idea for Aiden Marshall’s “Be No Rain” came in the wake of the 2024 presidential election, in figuring out how to keep acting despite grieving.
As Multicultural Art Center artist-in-residence, Aiden Marshall spent the summer workshopping “Be No Rain,” but the idea for it came in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. “There was a period of one or two weeks where there was some grieving happening personally and in community with other folks, particularly other Black folks,” Marshall said. Like many, he wondered how to stay motivated; this answer is scored by mostly Black and Afrodiasporic artists, with a title from Gil Scott-Heron’s poem “I Think I’ll Call it Morning” – which discusses choosing joy as an action. “I often compartmentalize and say that I can either feel these feelings of grief or only focus on activist work, and I wanted to think about what it means to hold both things simultaneously,” Marshall said. “This performance mediates on being with one’s own thoughts, sharing experiences with others and actively choosing love and joy as an act of resistance.”
In its season-opening show, “Where the Power Lies,” the Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe explores “power shifts and power imbalances” and how it manifests.
In its season-opening show, “Where the Power Lies,” the Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe explores power and the ways we manifest it. “There are a lot of power shifts and power imbalances happening in the world right now,” said Gilchrist, artistic director and founder of the troupe. In preparation for this show, she put out a call for choreographer collaborators from the Boston dance community – sharing her own power – and emerged with six pieces, including one from Jeryl Palana and her company. One number is about female empowerment; another, a duet between former Boston Ballet dancers Louise Hautefeuille and Mamuka Kikalishvili, explores power dynamics in a relationship; the final number, the show’s titular performance, brings all of the dancers together to examine strength in numbers. “I want to try and say something about all of the power struggles going on in the world right now, even if it is subtle,” Gilchrist said.
The Dance Complex explores the paths that brought us to the current dance scene in a two-day event that includes an audience-invited party.
In “Roots and Routes,” The Dance Complex explores the paths that brought us to the current dance scene. The two-day event features performances ranging from modern to hip-hop by more than 10 artists with an installation of movement, spoken histories and video recordings. It wraps up “Dancing Through Time,” a Mass Humanities-funded project revealing stories of the Complex’s history. “We are all interwoven,” executive artistic director Peter DiMuro said. “Even the most original among us is not original. We are handed down clothes, we are handed down mannerisms, we are handed down dances and our histories.” After the performance Saturday, audience members are invited for a dance party with The Floorlords. “If someone is afraid of dance or feels like they have no connection to it, this is the best program to come to,” DiMuro said. “It gives a background on how to stay connected and explores how dances are made. It’s like a good box of chocolates with a little bit of everything in it.”
“Vive10” celebrates a decade of Evolve Dynamicz's airy and expansive choreography in a way revealing of the passage of time: “Both of our artistic directors recently had babies,” a troupe leader said.
“Vive10” celebrates a decade of Evolve Dynamicz’s airy and expansive choreography in a way revealing of the passage of time: “Both of our artistic directors recently had babies, so we are making this event very kid friendly,” rehearsal director Ava Majumder said. That includes livestreaming performances to a studio with creative movement prompts for children. “Nicole Zizzi does a really good job of taking barriers or things going on in her life and figuring out how to make Evolve a space where that isn’t a barrier,” Majumder said of one of those directors – but this kind of pivot is natural for Evolve, founded in 2015 by Zizzi and Lisa Giancola of two subcompanies: Evolve Repertoire, for dancers who prefer set choreography, and Improv Dynamicz. This performance brings them together, using new and older pieces; interspersed solos include one by alum Caitlin Peeler. As to the kids, “Evolve is a place to create space, and having a place for kids is a component of that,” Zizzi said.
A southern Spain tradition of song, dance and music – the roots of which may go even further back, to ninth century India – draws a two-day celebration this weekend called Velada Flamenca.
A southern Spain tradition of song, dance and music – the roots of which may go even further back, to ninth century India, before mingling with Sephardic Jews and the Moors – draws a two-day celebration this weekend called Velada Flamenca. Omayra Amaya, who formed her Flamenco Dance Co. in 1994, leads the party, performing alongside guests Juan Murube (singer), Roberto Castellon (guitarist) and Rafael Heredia (percussionist). The weekend features a student repertory showcase as well as a community jam, called a juerga; but don’t miss a chance to see Amaya herself, gushed over by critics from The Denver Post (“a dance of sudden fury”) to The Boston Globe (“Mesmerizing … intense … erotic … splendid.”) “Velada Flamenca is truly a celebration of life,” Amaya said. “It is a gathering of different people coming together through flamenco and engaging in rhythms together. We hope this event fosters human connection through the music and dance of flamenco.”
In “How We Go,” even the music is wildly collaborative, bringing together bagpipes, flamenco guitar, singing bowls, beatboxing, cello and piano.
Beheard.world’s performance of “How We Go” brings together musicians and dancers from across the area. “In Boston, there’s a lot of different silos of people, and it has been like that in history,” said Anna Myer, director and co-founder of the social justice-focused collective of event and film producers. She collaborated with composer Nate Tucker to create music featuring bagpipes, flamenco guitar, singing bowls, beatboxing, cello and piano, and the dancers will perform the “Belonging” section of her “Belonging and Othering.” “There is a lot of othering happening in the country right now, and this piece is really about how we move together,” Myer said. “In my choreography I work to make people feel – and my goal for this specific piece is to make people feel like they belong.” Before the performance, a short documentary by co-director Jay Paris goes behind the scenes to depict the process for this show.
