NACHMO Boston #MentoringMatters
"Where can Boston dance makers gather together for inspiring creative support during their choreographic process? NACHMO Boston has been instrumental in bringing my choreographic ideas into a community that cares. In NACHMO mentoring sessions, Brenna Banister, Karen Krolak, and Nicole Harris provide safe spaces for choreographers to be encouraged and critiqued, discover new resources, take risks, and network with other dance makers. " - Jessica Roseman
In this crazy year without the ability to safely hold indoor live performances, we had to rethink how NACHMO Boston can best serve our community. Instead of ending in our typical performances, NACHMO 2021 will focus on the things we have more control over:
- building community
- staying mentally and physically healthy
- developing alternative ways of creating and showing work
To reach those goals we are offering a much wider range of mentorship opportunities to our choreographers. All choreographers will participate in at least one virtual group mentor session with mentorship led by Monkeyhouse’s Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris, and Alive Dance Collective’s Brenna Banister, alongside guest mentors from our community. Participants will also have the opportunity to receive one-on-one mentorship and attend workshops about creating for film. We know that instability has been the foundation of 2020 so we want to provide the most support possible to our choreographers, their dancers, and the community as a whole.
"The mentoring and support of the community from NACHMO gave me the confidence to come back to dance creation and performance after a 15 year hiatus. The support helped me to see the variety of directions my work could take and gave me choreographic techniques to help express myself. They helped me see that my work is dance and does express something that people connect to, even when I'm not confident about it." - Rachel Roccoberton
What’s the money for?
In previous years the ticket revenue from NACHMO Boston’s final performances have covered the majority of our budget. While it may seem like a virtual festival has no overhead and so doesn’t need to bring in any money, we still need to support our mentors as much as we support our choreographers. Your donation will pay these artists for the time, experience, and insight they share with our choreographers. Most NACHMO Boston mentor relationships extend far beyond the month of January inspiring lifelong connections.
“I've come to see the mentoring process as an experience that shifts- and should shift- over time and over the relationship between mentor and mentee. The relationship is great when it is a dynamic one: at first the mentor likely shares from their experiences and study with someone newer to the making process that allows some frame of perspective; and then a shift can happen as newer maker begins to organize their voice in the work, and a mentor role can shift then, too, to instigator, questioner, facilitator. When the relationship is dynamic, full of shifts, even if I start as "mentor", I end up learning anew from what transpires in a session.
And, I suppose, this is the definition of satisfying relationships: the ones where everyone gets to grow, learn, become anew.” - Peter DiMuro, The Dance Complex
Why is mentoring so important?
We believe that mentoring should help artists to explore their creative problems, clarify intentions, and overcome obstacles rather than impose aesthetic ideas or pass judgements. Our mentoring sessions empower all participants to offer constructive feedback rather than presenting mentors as omniscient experts. Our hope is that these sessions encourage each of us to invest in the work of other artists within our community and to foster connections that last well beyond the month of January.
If each dancer who performed with us since 2013 donates just $5 we will completely fund our mentoring programs!
If each past choreographer donates only $10 we could fund all of our group mentoring sessions!
Your $15 donation will fund a one on one mentoring session with one of our choreographers!
Donating $50 today will fund one of 12 group mentoring positions!
A donation of $200 will completely fund one group mentoring session!
“I’ve had mentors come in and say 3 words to me that have changed an entire aspect of the piece. I’ve had people totally understand what I was going for and people who are in a whole other world. All of that feedback is so important because when you’re making something, you can’t see it through the audiences eyes. You’re too close. You know too much. You need someone who’s further away to give you some input and you never know where their words could take your work!” - Elizabeth Powers, Monkeyhouse, BAR Dance Collective
All photos by Olivia Blaisdell