Dances in Progress Choreographers

We invite you to learn more about the DIP choreographers below! The artists are listed alphabetically by first name.

Photo Credit: Bill Parsons, Maximal Image

Ananth Udupa (he/they) is a dancer, designer, and artist based in Boston, MA. With a background in Bharatanatyam and architecture, his work aims to nurture diasporic communities through socially engaged art. Ananth’s current focus is the relationship between emotion-based movement, South Asian rituals, and narrative in space explored through performance, drawing, and sculpture. He currently works as an Associate Arts and Culture Planner at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Ananth was a part of the 2023 aMASSit choreography cohort at the Dance Complex and is an Early Career Fellow for Natura Network.

Learn more about and follow Ananth's work on his website and Instagram.

Andrea Muñiz (b. 1997, she/they) is a Boston-based (Massachusetts and Pawtucket Land) dance artist and movement researcher from San Juan, Puerto Rico (Taíno Land). Their work is raw and dynamic, rooted in a curiosity towards rigor and pleasure developed through improvisational inquiries.

Their choreography and improvisation have been presented at MELLE´s “WIP”, Danza Orgánica’s “We Create Festival”, JP Porch Fest, and MEET. Andrea is a 2021 and 2023 NEFA New England Dance Fund recipient. During the summer of 2023, they hosted the Summer Community Contact Jam in Jamaica Plain. They are currently an artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts, Dance Lab.

Her performance and collaboration credits include projects with Abilities Dance Boston, Danza Orgánica, Dara Capley, Jessi Stegall, and El Taller Juvenil de Andanza. While an undergraduate student, Andrea had the opportunity to perform works by Robin Aren, Ron K. Brown, John Chin, Tommy Waheed Evans, Tommy Neblett, and Kate Weare.

Andrea has taught in the Boston community through Midday Movement Series and is a current teaching artist for BalletRox and Contact Improv Boston. They participated in Mass Cultural Council’s Creative Youth Fellowship and were a 2022 YDW Mentor at Bates Dance Festival.

She holds a B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from The Boston Conservatory and is an alumna of Andanza Escuela de Danza Contemporánea. She has completed additional training through the Bates Dance Festival (ME), Danza Contemporánea de Cuba (CU), The Field Center (VT), and TransFormation Danse (MTL).

Learn more about and follow Andrea's work on their website and Instagram.

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Photo Credit: Kaila Piazza

Native to Dover, Delaware, Charles Murrell III is a sensitive composer-performer drawn to the mysticism of the folk melodies born here in America and those found through the African diaspora (West Africa, Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian).

Learn more about and follow Charles' work on their Instagram and YouTube channel.

Miranda Lawson (she/her) is a performer, choreographer and teacher based in the Greater Boston area. She received her BA in Dance and Psychology from Mount Holyoke College in 2022, where she was recognized with awards in choreographic excellence and leadership through social justice work. She has trained at Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival and Boston University’s REACH Summer Dance program, where she later returned as an intern. She was a mentee through Midday Movement’s BIPOC professional dancer mentorship program 2022-2023. Miranda was a choreographic resident through the Urbanity X Residency program for the 2022 season then became a company dancer for Urbanity. She also performs with Kia the Key & Company and Phunk Phenomenon Urban Dance Theater in addition to making and performing in her own choreography. Miranda has performed in works by Shura Baryshnikov, Shakia Barron, Barbie Diewald, Chloe London, and Jenna Riegel in places such as American Dance Festival, the American College Dance Association Conference, Bates Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow.

Learn more about and follow Miranda's work on her website and Instagram.

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Photo Credit: Joe Thibodeau

Nicole Zizzi is co-founder and artistic director of Boston-based dance company Evolve Dynamicz. She studied Physics and Dance as an undergraduate at University of Rochester, where she trained under her mentor, Missy Pfohl Smith—artistic director of BIODANCE and director of Program of Dance and Movement at the University of Rochester. After graduating college, Nicole moved to the Boston area where she quickly found herself immersed in the rich and vibrant Boston dance community. In October 2015, Nicole and her co-founding partner, Lisa Giancola, started Evolve Dynamicz. Nicole completed her Master's of Architecture in 2021 at Northeastern University where she is currently conducting research in embodiment and data somatics. She is also a part-time lecturer in the graduate Experience Design program within the College of Arts, Media and Design’s Center for Design. Her current research investigates how dance may be used as a tool for fostering data literacy. Nicole is a mental health advocate as a storyteller with This is My Brave, a national non-profit whose vision is “to one day live in a world where we don’t have to call it “brave” to talk openly about mental illness. We’ll simply call it talking.” Her creative practice has become a means of processing her own lived-experience as a disabled dancer and through various performances, productions, workshops (and more) with Evolve Dynamicz. She uses dance as a means of de-stigmatizing conversations surrounding disability, mental health, and their inherent intersections.

Learn more about and follow Nicole's work on her website and Instagram.

Nko Fallou Small is a Cultural Ambassador of West African Drum and Dance. Having parents that are natives of Senegal and Barbados, he was born into the world of African-Caribbean music and dance. At the age of five, he began an intensive training on the Djembe drum, and learned traditional music and dance under the instruction of his mother, Fatou N'Diaye. Throughout his life, Fallou was mentored by some of the best drummers and dancers from Senegal, Mali, and Guinea. From a graduate of Boston Arts Academy and former member of Boston Citywide Percussion Ensemble, to Rooftop Shows with Global Citizen Artist, Lauryn Hill; Dancer and Choerographer with Delou Africa, Inc. (Miami, Florida); and sharing stages with the sons of Legendary Fatouabou Camara (Dani Percussion, Guinea), Djembe has definitely brought Fallou all around the world for all to see. Mande Music lives on!!!! Fallou currently resides in the Boston Massachusetts area, where he is the resident Drum Teacher at Paige Academy; performs with his own group, Troupe Fall; and serves as a artist resident for Lakai Dance Theatre.

Learn more about and follow Nko's work on his Linktree.

Modern Connections

Where Movement Meets Meaning

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Modern Connections, founded and directed by Jenny Oliver, creates access to Modern dance and cultivates belonging for people who may, or may not, consider themselves to be dancers.

Jenny Oliver

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Photo credit: Stefanie Belnavis of The Diahann Project

Throughout Jenny's 18-year career as an artist and educator, she has cultivated a trauma-informed, culturally-responsive, kinetic storytelling practice. She believes in the power of dance to catalyze meaningful and effective change in the lives of others and works at the intersection of dance, education, and collective collaboration to elevate systemic issues affecting Black and Indigenous people.

Modern Connections

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Photo credits (left to right, top to bottom): 1. JHsumedia 2. RBelleau Photography 3. Jenny Oliver 4. Sarah Takash

Modern Connections is a multifaceted organization that:

Offers weekly low-cost public adult dance classes
Hosts interdisciplinary workshops
Cultivates partnerships with public, private, and government entities
Choreographs thought-provoking performances

Learn More & Donate

We invite you to learn more about our work below, to follow Modern Connections on Instagram @modern_connections, sign up for our monthly newsletter, and to donate to our fundraising efforts by selecting "Tickets & Donate" in the upper righthand corner of the screen.

Performances

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Photo credits (left to right, top to bottom): 1 & 2. Stefanie Belnavis of The Diahann Project 3. Alexander Sargent 4. Unknown

What Your Support Means for Performances:

Creative Economy: Performances create work opportunities for a variety of creatives - from dancers and stage managers, to lighting designers and sound engineers.
Dancer Pay: Modern Connections strives to provide consistent opportunities for dancers through long-term projects and to maintain market rate wages.
Community Transformation: Modern Connections performances are designed to cultivate impact beyond a singular moment or event. The themes of the work and engagement with the audience cultivate opportunities for individual and community transformation.

Testimonial: “Thank YOU for a fabulous weekend and for bringing mindfulness to movement for our museum guests! People absolutely loved you all." - Museum Presenter

Dances in Progress

By Modern Connections

Dances in Progress

Modern Connections