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BIPOC Professional Dancer

MENTORSHIP

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Midday Movement Series is thrilled to relaunch BIPOC Professional Dancer Mentorship, a mentorship program supporting early-career BIPOC professional contemporary dancers to establish their dance paths in Greater Boston. This program aims to empower and celebrate early-career BIPOC dancers by creating a sense of connection and community, and by providing a space to address the impacts of structural inequities and strategies to help navigate and overcome them.

 

2024-2025 BIPOC Professional Dancer Mentees:

Jassi Murad

Aiden Marshall

Simon Montalvo

Anja Voges

​This program is a crucial next step in MIDDAY's current racial justice work. By providing a new generation of BIPOC dance artists with resources to create their own sense of purpose and belonging in the Greater Boston dance community, MIDDAY will continue to cultivate a sustainable and vibrant local dance sector. 

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Program Description:

In this eight month program, four early-career professional contemporary dancers (4 years of experience or less) will receive and commit to the following:

  • class stipends to take a minimum of 60 hours of dance classes over the course of the program (equivalent to one MIDDAY class and one additional Boston, Somerville, or Cambridge-based dance class of their choosing per week for 18-20 weeks);

  • $500 personal stipend to use at their discretion;

  • Bi-weekly mentorship consultations with MIDDAY director Marissa Molinar to help guide their individual growth (about 18 hours over the course of the program);

  • Monthly all-mentee gatherings to encourage peer-to-peer networking, support, and learning (about 18 hours over the course of the program);

  • Access to an all-mentee chat group to encourage connection between and beyond group gatherings.​​

The program will run from August 2022 - March 2023, culminating with a small celebration in which each mentee will present their top takeaways from their training and mentorship experiences. Mentees and guest dance artists will be invited to show work and works-in-progress at this celebration.

Eligibility Criteria:

This program is open to contemporary dancers of color who are:

  • at least 18 years old,

  • self-identify as a professional or pre-professional dancer,

  • are developing a professional career as a dancer,

  • and have four (4) years or less of professional experience.

Applications are closed for the 2024-25 season.

Questions?

Email us for more information.

BIPOC Professional Dancer Mentees (2024-2025)

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Anja Voges (she/her)

Anja Voges is a queer, mixed-race, Asian American dance artist of Filipino-German descent. Originally from Connecticut, her early training began at the Lee Lund Studio of Dance and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts. In 2023, Anja graduated cum laude from American University in Washington, DC. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and International Studies with concentrations in human rights, Asian diaspora studies, and German language. 

 

Anja has predominantly trained in contemporary and improvisation forms and enjoys exploring a variety of genres. As a creator, Anja’s research uses contemporary and improvisation practices to explore multifaceted human experiences rooted in Asian diasporic literature and theory. Anja embarks on a journey of space-creating and meaning-making informed by her diverse roots, exploring the liminal yet beautiful portal of existing somewhere in the middle. 

 

Anja is currently a freelance dancer and arts administrator based in Boston, Massachusetts. Anja has performed with BoSoma Dance Company, Infinity Dance Collective, and the Lee Lund Studio of Dance Alumni Company. Anja is a Development Associate at North End Music and Performing Arts Center, and a Production Assistant for Project ChArma. In all facets, Anja aims to create meaningful connections, engage with communities, and generate local impact. 

 

When she is not dancing, Anja can often be found power-walking across the city, listening to music, cloud gazing, and daydreaming. She loves indulging in new hobbies, admiring nature, and finding joy in everyday life.

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Aiden Marshall (he/him)

Aiden Marshall is a dance artist and choreographer based in Boston, MA. Originally from North Carolina, he trained at Graceful Expressions Dance Education where he was trained primarily in ballet and contemporary styles as well as jazz, musical theater, and choreographic techniques. In May 2023 he earned his BFA in Dance choreography and performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Dance. While at UNCG, Aiden studied under artists such as Robin Gee, Janet Lilly, BJ Sullivan, Maurice Watson, Clarice Young, and has performed works by Maleek Washington, Helen Simoneau, and Teresa Heiland. There he expanded upon his techniques in contemporary, ballet, and jazz, and began studying West African styles, sparking a passion for a wider range of african-diasporic dance techniques, and histories of Black dance in the United States. 

 

Aiden also has a passion for the production side of dance. He has volunteered as the production coordinator for a full evening of student choreography resulting in a sold out show during his senior year. He also was instrumental in the production of the Intern choreographic showcase during his 2023 internship at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Most recently he was hired as the production Assistant and Stage Manager for Jessica Roseman’s work “I’ll Meet You There” which premiered this June. 

 

Currently Aiden is a company dancer with the Haitian-contemporary company Jean Appolon Expressions since January of this year, and has also been developing and expanding his pedagogical practices through teaching at various elementary schools in the Boston area

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Simon Montalvo (they/them)

Simon Montalvo is a non-binary/transgender movement artist, researcher, and archivist born on the land of the Coahuiltecan and Karankawan peoples. They’re currently living on the land of the Massachusett and Pawtucket peoples, and are grateful for the generosity of the land that holds them. They recognize that this land acknowledgment is only a small part of their fierce commitment to the global Land Back movement; they will continue to uplift indigenous people’s voices, protest against colonialism and imperialism in all forms, protect their community, and explicitly stand with all oppressed peoples against colonial forces. Our liberation as a transgender and gender expansive community is only made possible through the years of fierce love, labor, and loyalty from our BIPOC community, and we must continue to stand in solidarity forever. May we stay resilient, joyful, and soft in the face of oppression. 

 

Simon is interested in movement research that explores themes of the human condition such as gender, sexuality, and family dynamics within the home. Their choreography has been presented at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Project 31. Simon received the BCA’s Boston Dancemakers Residency for the 23/24 season, a Studio Space Grant through Urbanity Dance in 2023, and participated in aMaSSiT (a choreographic lab) 2023. Simon holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and is largely focused on experimental improvisation, dance theater, radical community care, and moving in forms that make us feel things.

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Jassi Murad (they/them)

Growing up Palestinian in Jerusalem, the politics of bodies in space has always been a fundamental question in my life. In that context, I couldn’t have imagined my life to end up immersed in art and creation, due to the high levels of violence, segregation, and dispossession on a daily basis. I dove deep in to embodiment after my first year of university in Berlin. I discontinued traditional education to join a dance school- in my mind, temporarily until I figured out what I will actually do. Since then I have been continuously reborn. I decided to persist in this field for my own salvation, and to reach people whom may otherwise not be able to access this wisdom. In this field, I am often the only Arab in the room. Which leads me to the question… why? 

 

Now I am an interdisciplinary performer and creator, teacher, and student. Performatively, I am interested in confronting social and political structures, and uplifting people through organizing community. Technically, I am interested in body mechanics, sustainability, and mind- body attunement. I teach yoga, techniques of sustainable movement, and improvisation strategies. I have a B.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from PERA in North Cyprus, YTT 200 hours, and Reiki 2 certification. 

 

 Some of the projects I worked on which influenced me a lot include: The Past by Costanza Makras/ Dorkypark, Tarab by Atash Dance company, SÁLVESE QUIEN PUEDA by Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Furthest Point by Jean Abreu, Terra (self produced), Move, Dwell, Belong by Kairos Dance Theatre and Urbano.

Why Is BIPOC Mentorship
Necessary in Dance?

Relationship- and community-building pathways for newly arrived dance artists is crucial in our local dance sector in general. Metro Boston's professional dance sector --even among dance professionals-- is often described as "hidden" and "hard to find," as well as "deeply siloed" and difficult to navigate. Mentorship provides an opportunity for more seasoned artists to not only welcome new artists in and orient them within the local landscape, but also allows for resource sharing and "showing them the ropes;" formal and informal goal-setting; networking; encouragement and artistic growth; and more. Mentorship has proven to be a valuable resource across sectors, and the dance sector is no different.

For BIPOC artists, the need is even greater. Due to a lack of visibility across the sector and representation in sector leadership, BIPOC artists are prone to isolation, macro- and micro-aggressions, and a lack of a sense of belonging, dance artists of color have a hard time making Metro Boston their home, especially in predominantly white genres such as contemporary dance. This program seeks to addres some of these needs.

In addition, living as a person of color in Metro Boston is difficult enough on its own, due to issues including gentrification and cultural erasure; housing, food, and medical injustice; the historical and growing wealth gap, and more. Below are a few resources that provide more detail and data about these specific hardships:

The Weathering Hypothesis
As summarized by PubMed: "The weathering hypothesis states that chronic exposure to social and economic disadvantage leads to accelerated decline in physical health outcomes and could partially explain racial disparities in a wide array of health conditions." The weathering hypothesis was originally proposed in 1992 by public health researcher Dr. Arline T Geronimus to explain disparities she observed in health outcomes especially for Black women.  

WEALTH + OPPORTUNITIES 

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM


MEDICAL RACISM 

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