Lorraine Chapman, The Changing Room. Liza Voll photograph. Lorraine Chapman The Company dances May 11 as part of José Mateo’s Saturday series.
Dance for World Community has brought together more than ten thousand members from Boston’s dance and social services network together every June for more than a decade. Now you can join them every Saturday.
DWC’s annual June festival, organized by José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre, has become a mainstay event in the Cambridge community for dancers and their audience, as well as for the community service organizations that are woven into the dance community. DWC has grown to include more than 70 local dance groups, and dozens of social service organizations like the Homeless Empowerment Project, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Girl Up enlivening all of Harvard Square with performances and social outreach presentations.
Now Mateo’s Ballet Theatre will bring one of these dance groups each week to Harvard Square’s Sanctuary Theatre. Beginning March 16, Dance Saturdays will spotlight a variety of dance styles, from classical Indian dance to salsa, modern and flamenco.
“When we started Dance for World Community,” Mateo says, “we thought we bringing together Boston’s dance community. It turns out to be many different communities.”
The Saturday series begins this weekend with RASA. Led by dance guru Sudha Chandra Sekhar, and including her Hindu Temple Rhythms, the Vidyanjali Dancers, Shekhar Shasri and others, RASA will explore traditional Indian dance and art.
The breadth of the Saturday series reflects the sweep of Boston’s dance community. The Wondertwins bring hip-hop to the Sanctuary March 30. Salsa Y Control performs April 6, Boston Lykeion Ellinidon’s dance troupe presents traditional Greek dance April 13, tap fills the Sanctuary with choreographer Ian Berg’s Subject:Matter on April 27, and Yosi Karahashi offers a glimpse into Boston’s vast flamenco community on May 4. Lorraine Chapman The Company will present modern dance on May 11.
The series brings Mateo’s Sanctuary Theatre back to life, after he ended his repertory programs last year. Mateo will return his own neo-classical ballet as well on this series, with a program by his YouthWorks troupe and faculty members on May 18. The series ends the following weekend with Sory and Marianne Harkless Benkadi’s West African Drum and Dance troupe.
Dance Saturdays at the Sanctuary begins March 16 with a presentation of classical Indian dance, and continues through May 25. For tickets and information visit ballettheatre.org or call 617 354-7467.