“Monkeyhouse provides Boston with a holistic vision of community bonding through live performance and art making. Their creative work is anarchic and irreverent but always with a willingness to directly engage. They are a force to be reckoned with in the greater Boston performing arts community.”
-David Parker, The Bang Group
Monkeyhouse, an award winning nonprofit that connects communities through choreography, encourages people of all ages to move with meaning. Founded in 2000, we began with a promise to build a laboratory where choreographers could create, experiment and present new work. We have mentored, nurtured and supported local, national, and international choreographers ranging from students first experimenting to established favorites. Through NEFA’s Center Stage program, we partnered with Arts at the Armory, Endicott College, Impulse Dance Center, the Pingree School and the Center for Arabic Culture to present Fleur D’Orange (Morocco) in 2014. Thanks to the Miner Nagy Family Gift Fund, we launched the Covid Collaborations in April 2020 to support over 115 artists and arts organizations within the New England dance ecosystem. Monkeyhouse projects have toured to New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Chicago and around New England. We've hosted hundreds of conversations about different creative processes and formed long term relationships with presenters, audience members and other choreographers.
Co-Artistic Directors, Nicole Harris and karen Krolak, have been collaborating on projects in a diverse range of media for over 20 years. Both women have acquired invisible disabilities that shape their own creative practices. Empathy is a tremendous motivator for them. Each is willing to silently accommodate for her own needs but witnessing each other’s struggles prompted them to advocate more for people with invisible disabilities. Their openness about their invisible barriers encouraged Monkeyhouse to participate in the Mass Cultural Council’s Innovation and Learning Network, the BDA’s Dance & Disability initiative, and Dance/USA’s Deaf & Disabled Affinity Group. Their embodied understanding of unpredictable pain has helped them to connect with other marginalized communities and artists to establish the trust required to have difficult conversations about trauma and repair. They know that this trust must be continually earned with the same tenacity that has been a hallmark of their professional relationship for over two decades.
For more information on our Major Events and Milestones, click here!
Co-Artistic Directors, Nicole Harris and karen Krolak, have been collaborating on projects in a diverse range of media for over 20 years. Both women have acquired invisible disabilities that shape their own creative practices. Empathy is a tremendous motivator for them. Each is willing to silently accommodate for her own needs but witnessing each other’s struggles prompted them to advocate more for people with invisible disabilities. Their openness about their invisible barriers encouraged Monkeyhouse to participate in the Mass Cultural Council’s Innovation and Learning Network, the BDA’s Dance & Disability initiative, and Dance/USA’s Deaf & Disabled Affinity Group. Their embodied understanding of unpredictable pain has helped them to connect with other marginalized communities and artists to establish the trust required to have difficult conversations about trauma and repair. They know that this trust must be continually earned with the same tenacity that has been a hallmark of their professional relationship for over two decades.
For more information on our Major Events and Milestones, click here!
