February Events!!

by Aisha Cruse

If the bleak Boston winter has got you down, never fear! February is full of vibrant dance! And if you're looking for something to do Valentine's Day weekend, you have no shortage of options!

Sun, February 7 @ 6 pm & 8 pm
NACHMO Boston
Presented by NACHMO Boston and Intimations Dance
At the Dance Complex in Central Square, Cambridge

$10

I hope everyone out there enjoyed January's choreographic kick in the pants! NACHMO Boston culminates at the end of this week with an evening jam-packed with all-new dance! Featuring 20 choreographers (including perennial Monkeyhouse favorites Ryan P. Casey and Nikki Sao Pedro- Welch) spread out over two performance times, your only problem is which time slot to see. Personal suggestion: see both! Admission is only $10!

Sat & Sun, February 12 & 13 @ 8 pm

The Glorious Mediocre with Kat Nasti
Presented by Boston Center for the Arts
At the Calderwood Pavilion in Back Bay, Boston
$20/ $18 BDA members

The Choreographers Residency program at the BCA continues enabling artists to produce really stellar work. Choreographer Kat Nasti describes The Glorious Mediocre as a "memoir of the mundane". Through a mash-up of Broadway and modern dance, she reflects on her own childhood in a rather unspectacular town and explores the fruitless pursuits of mortals with song, dance, and a healthy amount of sarcasm.

Fri & Sat, February 12 & 13 @ 8 pm
DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!
Featuring Daniel McCusker Dance Projects : Navarasa Dance Theater : Jean Appolon Expressions : Wendy Jehlen and Lacina Coulibaly
Presented by the ICA Boston
At the Institute for Contemporary Art Boston, MA
$15 ICA members + students / $30 nonmembers
Want to see 4 incredible local dance companies perform on the same evening? The ICA is fulfilling your wishes. Given Monkeyhouse's commitment to building and growing the Boston dance community I am unreasonably excited by this event and by the event description: "An exciting evening highlighting the diversity of dance in the Boston region ... featuring Daniel McCusker Dance Projects, Navarasa Dance Theater, Jean Appolon Expressions, and a duet by Wendy Jehlen and Lacina Coulibaly. Including a 15-minute performance by each company, DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! will conclude with a discussion among the four choreographers in which they will discuss how different forms of dance of informed their own work."

February 12 thru March 6
Fri & Sat @ 8 pm, Sun @ 4 pm
The Cuba Files
Presented by Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
At The Sanctuary Theater in Harvard Square, Cambridge

$42
Set entirely to music by Cuban composers, The Cuba Files goes back to Jose Mateo's Cuban roots, featuring two ballets choreographed in 2004, Escape and Arroz con Mango, and the premier of a new ballet. There is also a special discounted price if you buy tickets for all three spring performances, so go check out the website!

Sat & Sun, February 19 & 20 @ 7:30 pm

Avalanche
Presented by MoveWorks
At the Dance Complex in Central Square, Cambridge

$25/ $20 student & BDA members
I love it when out-of-town companies come to Boston to premier their work. MoveWorks evening-length show features three pieces; The Job, The Contaminant, and the world premier of Avalanche, a celebration of cold, ice and snow. In the depths of the Bostonian winter, it might be nice to be reminded that sometimes the cold is beautiful. Also featuring a special guest performance by Gabrielle Orcha and performance art by a local Boston cast!

Sat, February 27 @ 8 pm
Urban Bush Women: WALKING WITH ‘TRANE
Presented by FirstWorks
Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, RI
$18-75 includes $3 restoration fee
I had the good fortune to take a semester long class with a former Urban Bush Woman in college, and it remains one of the best learning experiences I've had as a dancer.If you have the opportunity to make it down to Providence for the performance, DO IT. These women are incredible dancers, and this show features live music composed by the Grammy Award-winning George Caldwell in tribute to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme".

January Events!!

by Aisha Cruse

January 1- 30
NACHMO

Presented by Intimations Dance and the Dance Complex

At The Dance Complex in Central Square, Cambridge
If it's January, it must be time for NACHMO! Intimations dance Sponsors the Boston branch of National Choreography Month, when we all get a choreographic kick in the pants! Keep checking the website to see when they announce the choreographers participating in this years showing in February, and to check out the workshops, talks and lead up events. (PS Monkeyhouse is doing our own NACHMO inspired series of dance prompts that we'll be putting up on Instagram, so stay tuned!)

January 7, 2016 @ 8:00 pm

Return to ORG!
Presented by the ART

At the Oberon, in Harvard Square, Cambridge
$20

I had no idea what this was or that I wanted to see it until I realized Luminarium was performing and now I am very excited and concerned I won't get a ticket in time.
"After a two year hiatus, ORG ~ the multi-performer, multimedia variety show bringing together local (and beyond) performing and visual artists ~ returns to Oberon in full tilt. Return to Org! is a wholly locally grown affair, with Boston-based performers filling both acts." In addition to Luminarium, there will be live music: including the infectious folk-swing of As The Sparrow & the dark, avant-elegance of Jaggery; animated shorts curated by experimental filmmaker Bryan Papciack., theater featuring Veronica Barron and live art by Kristilyn Stevenson. Click the links, get excited. See you there!

Fri, January 23 thru Sat, February 6

Catalyst Performance Series

Presented by the Dance Complex
At the Dance Complex in Central Square, Cambridge
$30 VIP/$20 General/$15 BDA 

Three Ticket Bundles: $75 VIP/$50 General/$36 BDA
The Dance Complex presents the culmination of their inaugural Catalyst Series, three weekends of performances featuring the inaugural CATALYSTS in a performance series intent on deepening how, and how often, we look at dance. Join choreographers Chavi Bansal, Callie Chapman, Michael Figueroa, Sarah Mae Gibbons, and Kathleen Nasti as they delve into their individual focuses of dance installation and film, memory and spirit, spectacle and uproar. 

Sat, January 30 @ 8:00 pm
Sun, January 31 @ 3:00 pm

Trinity Irish Dance Company
Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston
$68, $58, $48, $35 Does anyone else remember the Folgers commercials with the Irish step dancers? It was around the time of Riverdance's peak popularity, and I can't see step dance without getting the jingle stuck in my head, remembering how poised and precise the dancers were. The Trinity Irish Dance Company puts both the commercial and Riverdance to shame. Multiple award winners, they will be performing The Dawn in it's Boston area premiere.

Winter Events!

by Aisha Cruse

The Holiday season is nearly upon us, and the new year is right around the corner. Take in some great dance shows that are Nutcracker alternatives, and look ahead to the new year of dance in Boston!

Thu, December 10 @ 6:30pm & 7:30pm
Sat, December 12 @ 2 pm
Through Sun, January 24
Silas Renier in Merce Cunningham's Changeling
Presented by ICA Boston
At the ICA Boston, MA
FREE with admission to the museum
The Black Mountain College exhibition at the ICA is bringing Merce Cunningham's early works to life. December is the kickoff for two months of performances by the Boston Conservatory students under the direction of former Cunningham dancer Silas Riener. From the ICA website: "Boston Conservatory students perform excerpts from early Cunningham dances including Dime A Dance, Springweather and People, Septet, Nocturnes, and Minutiae, accompanied by pianist Stephen Drury. For the December and January performances, the students will be joined by Riener, who will perform the recently reconstructed Cunningham solo Changeling, and joined by Drury performing music by Christian Wolff and John Cage."

Thurs, December 17 @ 7:30PM
FILAMENT : Luminarium 5-Year Retrospective
Presented by Luminarium Dance
At Oberon, Harvard Square, Cambridge
$15-$20
Luminarium turns 5 this year, and Monkeyhouse could not be more excited about it. Make sure you come out to see their one-night-only retrospective show, featuring 11 favorites selected by fans. If you missed out on past Luminarium shows and want to see the best of the best, go buy your tickets now! This is at Oberon, so audience must be 18+.

Fri & Sat, December 18 & 19 @ 8:00 pm
12 Dancers Dancing
Presented by Honey Blonder
At Dance Complex, Cambridge, MA
$20 Adults/ $15 Children and Senior
Thirteen Boston based dance companies celebrate the season! Featuring performances from Rainbow Tribe, Bside, Sydni Lockeby, Boston Community Dance Project, Embrace, Cambridge Dance Company, Brookline Academy of Dance, Contemporarily Out of Order, Alive Dance Collective, CreationDance, Forty Steps Dance, Steffani Bennett, and Monkeyhouse friends Ryan P. Casey and Dance'n Feet! This is also a charity event, so if you bring a new toy for the toy drive you'll get a dollar off your ticket!

Sat, January 23 @ 7:30pm
An evening of Jazz and Tap
Featuring The Tall Tribe and the Paul Arslanian Trio
The Dance Hall in Kittery, ME
$20 advance /$25 at the door
Monkeyhouse loves Ryan P Casey! Take the opportunity to get out of the city for a night and head up to Kittery Maine (full disclosure, I really like jazz music, and I think live music and tap is one of the best ways dancers can experiment with interactive accompaniment): "Join The Tall Tribe (tap dancers Gay Nardone, Ryan Casey, and Drika Overton) and The Paul Arslanian Trio with special guests for an evening jazz and tap, from classic repertory to ground-breaking original work. Infectious fun and positive energy!"

January
NACHMO!
Presented by Intimations Dance
At the Dance Complex in Cambridge MA
It's almost time for that kick in the choreographic pants, National Choreography Month Boston! All January long choreographers selected by Intimations Dance will be creating new work. Last year the final performance was in the first week of February, and there were classes, workshops, and events all month long in January. We don't have exact dates yet, but keep checking back at the link above. I can't wait!

Fri & Sat, February 12 & 13 @ 8 pm
DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!
Featuring Daniel McCusker Dance Projects : Navarasa Dance Theater : Jean Appolon Expressions : Wendy Jehlen and Lacina Coulibaly
Presented by the ICA Boston
At the Institute for Contemporary Art Boston, MA
$15 ICA members + students / $30 nonmembers
Want to see 4 incredible local dance companies perform on the same evening? The ICA is fulfilling your wishes. Given Monkeyhouse's commitment to building and growing the Boston dance community I am unreasonably excited by this event and by the event description: "An exciting evening highlighting the diversity of dance in the Boston region ... featuring Daniel McCusker Dance Projects, Navarasa Dance Theater, Jean Appolon Expressions, and a duet by Wendy Jehlen and Lacina Coulibaly. Including a 15-minute performance by each company, DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! will conclude with a discussion among the four choreographers in which they will discuss how different forms of dance of informed their own work."

National Choreography Month - Day #1

by Nicole Harris

Welcome to National Choreography Month!  To celebrate off this exciting month we will be posting choreography exercise prompts and videos from Aisha (and some other surprise guests!) throughout the month.  We hope you'll be able to see where some of the ideas come from and how different people interpret the same exercise.  

To get us started we turned to a book that we visit OFTEN in rehearsals, when teaching or just when we're feeling stuck.  Karen was lucky enough to study with Lynne Anne Blom during her time at Northwestern.  Lynn's book "The Intimate Act of Choreography" has become a staple for choreography classes and choreographers around the world.  If you don't already have a copy, what are you waiting for?!  It's available through Amazon.  Today's exercise comes from chapter three: Speaking Body

Here is a short excerpt from Lynne leading you through an improvisation she calls Body Discovery:

"Take a look at your hand.  Suppose you'd never seen one before.  Notice the slight hollow on the inside, the lines around the bumps.  I wonder what it can do.  Can it walk?  fly?  jamble?  Come on, hand, try to ripple, spurt, stiffen, quiver, clench, scratch, hang, pulsate, drum, point.  Maybe you should give each part of it a chance to move by itself and show off a bit.  It likes that.  It's getting all excited!  It's hopping all over the place.  Hey, it's running away.  Let it go; go on, get rid of it.  Throw it away.  I mean, really throw it away.  You have lots of other parts.  [Apply this same process to the face, spine, feet, hips, head, etc. One by one, throw those parts away once you've explored them.]"

Interested in participating in National Choreography Month?  GREAT!  We'd love to have you!  Just send your video of today's exercise to Nicole at MonkeyhouseLovesNicole {at} gmail {dot} com or post them straight to Monkeyhouse's Facebook.  (Please note that we will not be able to post videos with content we don't have rights to.  That includes music!  So while you can use Beyonce as your inspiration, you can't actually have her playing in the background.  Thanks!)  Keep an eye out for new exercises and videos on Facebook all month!