Sunday, May 4th @ 7pm

Kate Marotta

Program Notes

Side Effects May Include...
Choreographed by: Kate Marotta
Performed by: Anneliese Day, Livia Dibb, Kate Barry, David McCool, Niamh Towle

Special thanks to Emma Chaney, Stephen Ursprung, the aMaSSiT team, and Steven Marotta

What is your project?

The goal of the project is to discuss the importance of FDA approval for drug regulation. To do this I am using specific examples of the New England Compounding Center which was a compounding center in Natick MA. A compounding center is a center that makes specific individual medications for patients that need more specifications than what is being mass produced. Because all prescriptions are individual at a compounding center, they do not need FDA approval. In the case of the New England Compounding Center, they decided to mass produce medications to sell all over the United States and infected over 700 patients with fungal meningitis and killed over 100 parents, children, and loved ones. This is a great example for the need of FDA approval and why we cannot remove FDA regulation for prescriptions in the United States. ​

What is the next step for your project?

The next step for this project is to meet with some of the victims families to build more of an understanding of the lasting effects and to finish the next sections of this dance with my cast. The goal is to be able to perform the full piece within the year. ​

Why is this work important now?

It is an important to work on this project now becaused based on the current trends in political discourse the FDA's role is being called into question. It is crucial that the FDA continues their leadership role in approving prescription medications to maintain a healthy society. ​

​What support do you need to reach the next steps?

  • a flight to visit the families of the victims
  • insurance for the cast
  • transportation

What designers and professionals could help mentor you as you move into the next steps?

  • Costume Design
  • Lighting Design
  • Projection/media Design
  • Accessibility
  • Marketing
  • Touring
  • Grant Writing

    Send support or feedback to Kate!

Donate to Kate's Work

What is your fundraising goal?

$800

Where will the money go?

$150 covers the flight to meet one victims family
$260 covers Hotel for 2 nights
$140 covers car rental
$150 food stipend
​$100 gas

Lindsay Gibbons

Program Notes

Bearing Witness - an Excerpt from The Things We Carry
Choreographed and Performed by Lindsay Gibbons
Sound: In Peaceful Defiance by Moments

​Special Thanks: Diana Duffy, Allison Gibbons and Kaylee Mahan

What is your project?

Bearing Witness is a solo expert from The Things We Carry, an evening-length dance piece that explores the profound ways we embody our histories. It examines the often-unseen burdens we accrue and the cyclical nature of familial patterns, questioning how they influence our present and future paths. This presentation focuses on a solo excerpt from the larger work. It embodies the "now," carrying within it the weight and influence of all that has come before. Currently, The Things We Carry exists as a collection of individual pieces, including this solo, that have been presented in various contexts.

What is the next step for your project?

The immediate next phase for The Things We Carry has two key priorities; securing the necessary financial resources for a full-length production and dedicating intensive choreographic work to develop the remaining sections and integrate them with existing material. Alongside this, a key priority is to engage in collaborations with lighting and sound designers to shape the overall atmosphere and impact of the work.

Why is this work important now?

The immediate next phase for The Things We Carry has two key priorities; securing the necessary financial resources for a full-length production and dedicating intensive choreographic work to develop the remaining sections and integrate them with existing material. Alongside this, a key priority is to engage in collaborations with lighting and sound designers to shape the overall atmosphere and impact of the work.

​What support do you need to reach the next steps?

  • Funding for development and production costs
  • Affordable studio space
  • Performance venue
  • Lighting designer
  • Sound designer
  • Administrative support
  • Artistic mentorship/feedback
  • Studio space for rehearsals
  • Residency opportunity for creation only
  • Residency opportunity including performance
  • Informal showing opportunities
  • Performance opportunities
  • ​Teaching artist opportunities

What designers and professionals could help mentor you as you move into the next steps?

  • Costume Design
  • Lighting Design
  • Sound Design
  • ​Grant Writing

    Send feedback or support to Lindsay!

Donate to Lindsay's Work

What is your fundraising goal?

$500

Where will the money go?

$10 provides one dancer's transportation to and from one rehearsal
$25 provides one hour of rehearsal space
​$85 provides a one-year membership to Boston Dance Alliance

Alexis Tsiramanes

Program Notes

sit with me
Choreographed by: Alexis Tsiramanes in collaboration with dancers
Performed by: Kate Warner, Maria Pellegrino, Raxel Kempenaar, Penn Burrall, Jaqi Gendreau, Emily Wang, Bella Soo-Hoo, Punch Purichat
Music: It Moves Swiftly Forward- Version by Jan Jelinek, Fanfare for naran ratan by naran ratan and memories of Green by Vangelis 

What is your project?

"sit with me" is a reworking and continuation of a project I created last year called "sometimes i just sit with it". This project dealt with portraying inner struggles and internal factors affecting external things (our environment, people, etc). Within this idea I was researching how these problems perpetuate when they remain undealt with and ways we "cover up the mess" so to speak and carry on. The mood of the piece was atmospheric and emotional, beginning and ending with one dancer stuck in a continuous movement idea, ultimately portraying this dark sense of loneliness. After "finishing" the piece I knew there was more left to explore within the movement vocabulary as well as the working themes. This project is currently in the beginning stages of creation and has not been set on any dancers yet. The idea of "sit with me" comes from a place of hope, support and community, as well as in response to the social, political and economic state of the country. We are not alone facing these conflicts and carrying the weight with even one other person is easier than alone. ​

What is the next step for your project?

The next step for "sit with me" is to obtain funding to seek out dancers and start building more material. This would look like either a workshop or residency dedicated to playing with preexisting movement, creating new ideas with scores/imagery and having conversations to allow artists to find a connection to the project. The creation process is one of the most important aspects to me and I aspire to cultivate a safe space where dancers feel heard and have the ability to immerse themselves in the movement. ​

Why is this work important now?

This project holds importance now more than ever due to all the inequities occurring daily without consequence. Everyone is dealing with the impact of current events, whether it is big or small, which means community, empathy and protecting each other is crucial. ​

​What support do you need to reach the next steps?

  • a space to meet and connect with dancers​
  • a budget to pay dancers
  • resources for promotion
  • Studio space for rehearsals
  • Residency opportunity without housing
  • Residency opportunity for creation only
  • Informal showing opportunities
  • Performance opportunities

What designers and professionals could help mentor you as you move into the next steps?

  • Lighting Design
  • Projection/media Design
  • Accessibility
  • Marketing
  • ​Grant Writing

    Send support or feedback to Alexis!

Donate to Alexis' Work

What is your fundraising goal?

$4000

Where will the money go?

Studio space for a 5 day residency costs $18 an hour (5 hours each day)... total of $450
Dancers pay- $16 per hour for 8 dancers... total of $3,200

Anugraha Raman ​

Program Notes

Exploring the Chitta Vrittis
Music by Sounds of Isha
Sanskrit translation informed by the Four Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and lectures & discussion by Dr. Pavithra Kumar & Kino MacGregor.
​
Special Thanks
Project Support: Smt Meena Subramanyam & Smt Roja Kannan in item selection & choreography ; Dance Gurus: Smt Sridevi Thirumalai ('96-'08), Smt Aler Krishnan ('14-'19), Smt Meena Subramanyam ('19-current) & Smt Neha Patel (Kathak: '20-current) ; My parents Mini & Madhu Raman, who grew my interest in dance as a child; aMaSSiT program (karen Krolack & Jason Ries); BostonAdavu community to help me keep in touch with my basics

What is your project?

Anugraha Raman is a Bharatanatyam dancer and ashtanga yoga practitioner. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the goal of yoga is described as the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind--the chitta vrittis (correct knowledge, misconception, imagination, sleep & memory). These philosophical concepts are much more easily understood through visual depictions. Specifically, they are better understood through expressive storytelling through the medium of dance. My thematic presentation aims to use poems, spiritual hymns and devotional odes to enact stories about characters whose minds are not still and explore the consequence of their “wandering vrittis.” ​

What is the next step for your project?

My next steps are to 1) Record a custom music track that will serve as the backdrop for the vritti associated with sleep 2) Identify wellness centers or academic institutions that may have an interest in hearing a lec-dem around the concept of the chitta vrittis enacted through the medium of Bharatanatyam. ​

Why is this work important now?

Both Bharatanatyam and yoga engage with chitta vrittis by disciplining the mind and bringing awareness to the present moment, allowing the practitioner (or dancer) to transcend the distractions of daily life and experience a deeper sense of self connection. Dance is a beautiful medium for conveying something so deeply philosophical to a wide number of people

​What support do you need to reach the next steps?

  • Studio space to shoot small promotional videos to put together a package promoting the thematic presentation to wellness centers & academic institutions
  • Identify interested individuals/groups
  • Recording space for recording custom music track
  • Studio space for rehearsals
  • A period of dedicated studio space to develop sets/props/etc.
  • Residency opportunity without housing
  • Residency opportunity for creation only
  • Performance opportunities
  • ​Teaching artist opportunities

What designers and professionals could help mentor you as you move into the next steps?

  • ​Lighting Design
  • Touring

    Send support or feedback to Anu!

Donate to Anu's Work

What is your fundraising goal?

$500

Where will the money go?

$500- cost of recording one song with only a vocalist

Bridget Nicolo

Program Notes

Funeral For a Falling Star
Choreographed and performed by Bridget Nicolo
Music by Janis Ian

Special thanks to Julie and Jeff Nicolo, Tess Nicolo, DeAnna Pellecchia, Madison Hayes Zaccardi, Kenzie Finn, Emma Frank, Ava D’Eon, Redacted Maxwell, Hannah Brown, and all of you!

What is your project?

Funeral For a Falling Star was born, initially, of out a challenge to create a solo work (where I often feel most comfortable choreographing for groups). I began to challenge myself, though, to think very intentionally about creating a work to be performed for a live audience--to create something that begins and ends on the stage (where audience reception and lighting design and other seemingly external details were often an afterthought in my brain). The piece itself is a solo reflection on success. It asks us to release the obsession with some imagined ideal trajectory. It honors unexpected twists and turns and diversions from expectation. It honors those who have fallen short of dreams and those who have everything they wanted and those who have forgotten what it's like to strive and most everyone in between. ​

What is the next step for your project?

The immediate next step for this project is applying to showing opportunities (as well as getting back in the studio to continue developing the full piece).​

Why is this work important now?

I feel this work is aligned with a starting point in my career--it feels like a perfect opportunity to formally introduce myself to the Boston dance community. Additionally, it's important I don't slow the momentum I have built in the development of this piece--aMaSSiT has been the exigence for this new choreographic challenge that I hope to keep up moving forward!​

​What support do you need to reach the next steps?

  • Dramaturgy and/or input from collaborators
  • Studio space for rehearsals
  • A period of dedicated studio space to develop sets/props/etc.
  • Residency opportunity with housing/away from home
  • Residency opportunity without housing
  • Residency opportunity for creation only
  • Residency opportunity including performance
  • Informal showing opportunities
  • Performance opportunities
  • Teaching artist opportunities

What designers and professionals could help mentor you as you move into the next steps?

  • Costume Design
  • Lighting Design
  • Prop/set Design
  • Sound Design
  • Projection/media Design
  • Accessibility
  • Marketing
  • Touring
  • ​Grant Writing

    Send support or feedback to Bridget!

Donate to Bridget's Work

What is your fundraising goal?

$400

Where will the money go?

$20 provides one hour of rehearsal space
$40 provides a costume!