Dances in Progress Choreographers

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

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ARTONE (he/him) is an artist learning to breathe, move, and deeply thanks all who have led him here. He works as a designer, educator, dance & theatre maker in New York and Boston.

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

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Gabriella Celona (she/her) is a Boston-based choreographer, dancer, and teaching artist specializing in jazz, contemporary, heels, and musical theater. An alumna of Emerson College (Broadcasting & Dance), she is the founder of DPEN — Dance Performance Entertainment Network — a company at the intersection of dance and media production. Gabriella has presented original choreographic work alongside Christopher Huggins, Kurt Douglas, Leslie Woodies, Adrienne Hawkins, Jenny Oliver, and Jeryl Palana. She has also choreographed and performed for the EVVY Awards Shows 41 and 42 and served as choreographer and board member of Emerson Urban Dance Theatre (EUDT). As a performer, her work spans both stage and screen — from conceptual dance films to live performances with Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, the Boston Celtics, New Balance, World of Dance, sold-out concerts at Fenway Park, and more.

Learn more about and follow Gabriella's work on her Instagram or at DPENETWORK's Instagram.

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Trinity Leite (she/her) is a performer, choreographer, and teacher based in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2025, she graduated from Salve Regina University with a B.A. in Dance, a B.S. in Finance, and a minor in Business Administration. She currently serves as the Dance Program and Box Office Manager at Salve Regina University. Her choreography has been presented at Jazz Choreography Enterprises’ Jazz Dance Project and WaxWorks in New York City, as well as the Bridging the Gap Festival and ACDA. In 2024, she performed at the Newport Jazz Festival with the Marcus Grant Trio and co-directed The Rhythm of Life: A Journey of Black American Music and Vernacular Dance. In 2026, Leite directed and produced Redux and co-directed Take the Risk: A Jazz Lounge at Ochre Court. Her artistic and academic research centers music as foundational to movement, and she strives to create work that evokes joy.

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

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Gavin McDowell (they/them) is a Cambridge-based queer, trans, and non-binary software engineer, dancer, maker, multi-disciplinary movement-based performance artist, and community organizer. They are interested in partnering, somatics and experiential movement, improvisation, installation, durational performance, and multi-disciplinary and multimedia performance, drawing on themes of queerness, community, intimacy, relationship to self and community, delight, pleasure, and play. Their movement and community building practice is rooted in queerness, polycentrism and community, experimentation, curiosity, and abundance.

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

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Ellice Patterson (she/her) is the founder/ executive and artistic director of Abilities Dance, a Boston-based dance company that welcomes disabled and diverse artists. She currently serves on the board of Massachusetts Cultural Council and the editorial board of the Journal of Arts and Special Education. She was an artist in residence with the City of Boston’s transportation department, using dance as a way to promote more accessibility on the streets and sidewalks of the city 2022 - 2023. She has won the 2020 Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award from Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; the 2024 Bill Allan Award for Grassroots Advocacy from Disability Policy Consortium; and the 2025 Bioeticando Award in honor of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, a cultural keeper, philosopher, and advocate for historically marginalized communities.from Prospera Institute. Abilities Dance under her leadership has won the 2020 UP Award from Mass Cultural Council for our achievements in accessibility across the Commonwealth and the 2023 Equity Award from Boston Cultural Council for our commitment to equity in the arts. Outside of self-produced Abilities Dance's shows, her Abilities Dance choreography has appeared in the MFA, Links Hall in Chicago, Gibney Dance in NYC, The Series: Vol IV at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre in NYC, and more. Outside of Abilities Dance, her choreography/performances have appeared in MeshGround in Sri Lanka and has received a Choreography Fellowship through the Mass Cultural Council. She has given lectures and workshops at schools, universities, and organizations across the country, including Harvard Graduate School of Education, Fidelity Investments, Boston University, and more. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College and her Masters of Science in Management Studies from Boston University Questrom School of Business. Patterson sailed from Massachusetts to Ireland and conducted research in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans on coastal runoff, sponge species, and spider habitats! She is a passionate researcher and science communicator, dedicated to uplifting Black women in STEM through her ongoing series with the Discovery Museum.

Learn more about and follow Ellice's work on her Instagram and TikTok.

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, Founder/CEO

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Photo credit: Stefanie Belnavis of The Diahann Project

Throughout Jenny's 21-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 2026

Modern Connections