Beheard.world Presents BELONGING AND OTHERING at The Dance Complex

Belonging and Othering, a new work by beheard.world, will be on stage at The Dance Complex in Cambridge June 10 and 11, the fourth presentation this season as part of The Dance Complex's BLOOM Residency and Platform Raising Program. beheard.world is a racially diverse collective of Boston performing artists, filmmakers and educators committed to utilizing the arts to make positive change.

Belonging and Othering is a collaboration of nine dancers/choreographers, three poets and two filmmakers who have created a piece where "belonging" and "othering" intersect, opening a window into underlying parts of tribalism and bias that keep us divided.

The multi-media performance piece will screen seven local storytellers who have experienced being "othered." The storytellers focus on racism, gender bias, immigration prejudice and LGBTQ issues. They include an African American man, a transgender man, a gay man, Black woman, and an Asian immigrant-all who have first-hand experience with these challenges. As each story is told, on a large 20'x20' screen, dancers will perform solos to eight stories.

For the belonging part of Belonging and Othering, choreographer Anna Myer has adapted steps, sections and movement phrases from the solos performed in the first part of the piece to create the second half about what it looks and feels like to belong. Myer says her goal is to portray "how each of our stories and hardships can be transformed by the support of community, so we can move beautifully together and flow."

This part of the performance is set to a commissioned score composed and played by Boston-based musician and composer Nate Tucker, who works regularly with some of the area's finest artists and arts institutions.

Peter DiMuro, Executive Artistic Director of The Dance Complex says "As artists, like all of society, we have lived imperfect journeys on the road to creating our lives. That beheard.world is exploring all of our imperfections, our foibles - those times when we fall down and those times where we succeed in holding hands to make the new dance ahead with the 'other' in our hearts - well, it is a courageous act. With each new work, Anna Myer and her gifted collaborators of beheard.world journey toward a clearing on the path ahead of us, creating together what individually they could not. We are eager to share these performances with you."

The Dance Complex's BLOOM project has two prongs: the first supports dance companies in professional development and performance, selected for their varied approaches to art-making and length of existence. The second prong aims to raise the profile of under-represented genres of dance including this season's focus on Street Dance, traditional African Dance, African Diasporic Dance and Disabilities Dance. In total BLOOM offers individualized discussion-to-action based programming, action planning, and administrative resources to dance entities involved.

The other three BLOOM projects presented earlier this season were Jean Appolon Expressions, Boston Dance Theatre, and The Click. The Dance Complex strives to enable the creation, study, and performance of dance by sustaining artists, audiences, and community through exciting programming.

The Dance Complex, celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, is the central hub of dance- locally, with connections to the New England region and in dialogue with the inter/national dance field. Its base of operations, an 1884-circa Odd Fellows Hall in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge, is a home to a diverse range of movers and dancers. This unique arts center hosts professional, pre-professional, and recreational movers. Those who dance, teach, and create within Our Studios receive valued space in a supportive environment for affordable rental rates.

The BLOOM Residency and Platform-Raising Program is made possible by major support from Movement Arts Creation Studio (MACS). The Dance Complex is supported by Mass Cultural Council, Barr Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Boston Foundation, The Klarman Family Foundation, Cambridge Community Foundation, Cambridge Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and others.

Other upcoming performances at The Dance Complex include DANCE NOW Boston May 13-14 and 20-21; Dance Complex Teaching Artist Concert June 17-18, and Benita Bike's DanceArt June 24-25.

Tickets, further information, and event updates are available dancecomplex.org/events. The Dance Complex is at 536 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA.

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