LET GO // REOPEN // BE HERE: a virtual dance concert is the TAPA Dance Company's first full-length dance film, inspired by the creative constraints of covid. "Let Go // Reopen // Be Here" was our daily mantra for the process of creating this work, under the choreographic and creative direction of the Class of 2020. Not only did this incredible group of six young artists persevere to make their truth heard through their art, but this piece features over 150 community performance submissions - our largest cast of dancers yet! 

OFRENDA: LIFE//DEATH//REMEMBRANCE//LEGACY is a multimedia dance concert devised by the TAPA Dance Company. This show began almost four years ago, when TAPA suddenly moved from Messer Street to Washington Street. We knew that we needed a way to make our new temporary home feel sacred to us. So, we created our first OFRENDA - to bring a piece of home into our space. We brought meaningful photos, art, plants, and objects that represent us, what we care about, and who we love. By staying connected with our ancestors and those we’ve lost, the Ofrenda is a part of our culture. In our new and permanent home at 275 Westminster, our OFRENDA has continued to be a practice for us to unite, feel safe, nurture sacredness, and remember who we are, where we come from, and those who came before us. The Ofrenda has been a grieving space for us over the last four years. We’ve lost people, pets, and folks in our families/the community. This year, we felt it was time to share our practice with our audience. This show represents our research and practice of investigating our existence and lineage through dance and thinking about how to live our lives with meaning and purpose. 

REHAB: don't take it personal. it's personal. is an original multidisciplinary dance concert imagined, experienced, choreographed, performed, & produced by the Class of 2019 Senior TAPA Dance Company. The story of 8 young queer and queer-allied, feminist, neurodiverse artists of color, their 6 years of healing together, and the legacy they have lived to share; to shout; to sing; to stomp; to whisper; to write; to question; to express; to love, REHAB is a ritual in which the audience is invited to witness our practice of moving forward.

SHE // FEMME // THEM is a multimedia dance concert devised and performed by the TAPA Dance Company. For us, this show represents our exploration of feminine energy, feminism, femme and intersectional allyship, and the experience of womxn/femme-identified people in society. This piece is an opportunity for us to listen to our young femme artists and their allies. We come from womxn. Each of us carries her Chromosome. So, to allow systems and ideologies that perpetuate sexist relationships and images of the self, is an offense to all of humanity. We must make art about it. This is an opportunity for you listen to our young femme artists and their allies. The TAPA Dance Company shares a vision “to create a world without sexism and misogyny, as well as other oppressions” (Sarah Doyle Women's Center) and we are grateful to practice this process of creation both in our creative process of being together as well as in our performance of this work. We hope to share pieces of it with as many audiences as possible. It is such an honor to witness young men and womxn dancing together, finding strength in vulnerability, and using their strength to lift each other up.

IF BROKEN BONES COULD SPEAK // there is a country in the world // put on the same trajectory as the sun // and i am in it // trying to swim in its waters of rum and morirsoñando // trying to stay afloat, // trying to swim back to // where i came from // this land holds more poems than it can read, // more songs than it can sing, // more hope than what it has lost. // there is hope // for a country in the world // put on the same trajectory as the sun // and i am in it. La curita  //Hoy te quiero mas // Y te olvido menos

As an artist and educator of color, who grew up learning Latin Dance from my family and friends rather than taking dance classes at a studio, I believe in the power of tradition. In building the TAPA Dance Company, we worked to understand the tradition of dance by exploring what it means to be an artist and compassionate human being in today’s world. Part of this work involves engaging in stories and art making that we can see and feel ourselves in - imagining and creating a world where we are fully valued. This production of The NOTcracker, re-imagined, re-written, and re-choreographed by our students at TAPA, is full of love, lots of sweat, and the incredibly ambitious, resilient, and generous spirit of our students in the TAPA Dance Company.