Boston Dance Theater Trainee Program Choreographer Call

Boston-based contemporary dance company Boston Dance Theater (BDT) announces an open call for submissions from choreographers. The company will identify 3 choreographers from the pool of applicants for opportunities to create original work with BDT Trainee dancers during BDT’s 2024-25 season. The commissioned works will be performed in a studio setting as part of the Trainee Program Observation Day. The selected choreographers will participate in an intensive-format residency. During the residency, the selected choreographers will each be provided with 5 days with the trainees to create, develop, and set new choreographic material. The chosen choreographers will each receive an honorarium of $1,200. The top finalists will be showcased on BDT’s website and social media. Past recipients include: Maleek Washington, Roya Carreras, Cynthia McLaughlin, Jenny Oliver, and Levi Marsman among others.

REQUIREMENTS

BDT is committed to working with artists of diverse experience and backgrounds, and will utilize this application process as a way to discover and help develop voices in dance. We invite choreographers to put forward a proposal for a new group work, highlighting a particular aspect of one of the following topics, directly or indirectly, in process or product: Climate change; Underrepresented cultures and/or identities in dance.

The new work must:

• Be 10-15 minutes in length

• Be set on all current BDT Trainees

• Be a completed work by the end of the residency period

• Be rigorously researched through the body before and during the creative residency

• Resonate with BDT’s mission and values

• Embody values of rigour, relevance, audacity, and progressivity, opening up dialogue across cultural, social, and political boundaries

  • Commitment to using our work to promote positive change within ourselves and our audiences. 

  • Produce socially relevant pieces of dance performance.

  • Invite artists into creative dialogue that stems from a deeply human place.

THE RESIDENCY

Includes:

• Honorarium

• 5 days of rehearsal time with dancers (25 hours total - including warmup/company class)

• Presentation in an in-person AND virtual studio setting

• Filmed video of the performed work