The Movement Series

In Spring 2022, the Movement Series brought to Greater Boston audiences three programs that centered social justice and highlighted Black artistry and creativity. We worked with The Williams Agency, a full-service marketing firm with a focus on grassroots results for mission-driven projects, to create a series of events for Cultural Activists: arts advocates, artists, and influencers from Boston’s communities of color who helped build awareness and spread the word about this trio of performances.

SANKOFA DANZAFRO, ACCOMMODATING LIE

The Movement Series began with Afro-Colombian dance company Sankofa Danzafro in Accommodating Lie, a work that dismantles stereotypes about Black bodies and forcefully affirms the need for selfexpression in Black communities around the world.

With the Williams Agency, we hosted an online workshop for our Cultural Activists with choreographer Rafael Palacios. Since we could not gather together due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions, we provided dinner for the Cultural Activists from their choice of several locally-owned Latin American restaurants.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Perennial Celebrity Series favorites Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned to Boston for the first time since 2019 with a program that featured new works created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the many upheavals of the past two years. Artistic Director Robert Battle, celebrating his tenth anniversary with the company, created a piece called For Four that deals with the loneliness and isolation of the lockdown period. Resident choreographer Jamar Roberts (a former company member) created Holding Space, a full-company work that enacts the discord of this historical moment and imagines a radical new way of being together that emerges as a response to crisis.

In our continuing work with The Williams Agency to build awareness and community support for our three Movement Series productions, Celebrity Series hosted “Dancing Through It,” a showcase for Boston’s dance community to come together and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Dance Complex in Central Square, dancers shared in-person or video performances about their response to the challenges of the past two years.

Poet and spoken-word performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s The Just and the Blind, which ran for a two performance engagement at the Emerson Paramount Center, also featured violinist and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, dancer KingHavoc, vocalist Débo Ray, films by Yoram Savion, and archival materials from civil rights struggles past and present. The work – framed as Bamuthi’s advice to his teenage son and his meditation about Black fatherhood and boyhood – weaves together a father’s love and pride with fear about how the world sees his child.

At once deeply personal as well as socially and historically resonant, the multimedia work set the stage for powerful conversations in and out of the performance hall. In addition to the audience talkback and community engagement activities outlined on pages 16-17, Celebrity Series worked with The Williams Agency to create a special open mic performance about Black Fatherhood, featuring a special introduction from City Councilor Julia Mejía and a personal video from Bamuthi. Poets, singers, instrumentalists, and more gathered at Black Market Nubian to share their reflections and artistry.

SANKOFA DANZAFRO Accommodating Lie

BOCH CENTER SHUBERT THEATRE