Dance for All
Boston Ballet, through the Education & Community Initiatives (ECI) department, works to bring positive, relevant experiences with dance into more spaces and to more people across Boston. Led by Alicia Greene, Assistant Principal, Community Education, our teaching artists and program staff have been hard at work to continue this mission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out more about our flagship programs below, and how they’ve been adapted to the challenges of this past year.
ECI on Location
ECI on Location places Boston Ballet teaching artists at schools and community centers throughout Boston for 30-week dance programs each year. The flexible curriculum is rooted in state and national dance education standards, and focuses on foundational ballet as well as creative movement, composition, and contemporary fusion styles. Student voice is central to all ECI on Location classes.
This year, as many community partners focused on health protocols and subsequently paused some programming, ECI on Location looks a little different. Teaching artists Lonnie Stanton and Mary Teuscher, both contemporary dance artists and educators in Boston, have been leading revamped, weekly virtual classes for three of our Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston partner sites - the Yawkey Club of Roxbury, the Charlestown Club, and the Berkshire Partners Blue Hill Club in Dorchester.
Lonnie, who has been incorporating yoga, contemporary dance, and Haitian folk dance elements into her energetic classes, explained, “With a virtual setting, my approach has been centered around the power of dance as a tool to connect. The goals in my class: To find joy, to grow body awareness, to support self-expression, and to be in community with others.”
In addition, teaching artist Erin McNulty has continued working with the Roxbury Latin School, a historic all-boys school located in West Roxbury. The 2019-2020 school year marked the first time Roxbury Latin offered dance as part of its arts curriculum, with ECI leading class for the school’s seventh graders alongside Digital Design and Sculpture courses. This year, Erin is collaborating and co-teaching with Boston Ballet School faculty member Igor Burlak to deliver classes remotely within Roxbury Latin’s hybrid model.
Teaching associate and Roxbury Latin alum Michael Beam has been supervising students taking the virtual classes on-site at school. “This class has challenged students to bring intention to their movement in a way that is curious, playful, and vulnerable. Our instructors' charisma more than compensates for the remote format, creating a moment that is such a welcome change from the rest of the school day," shared Mr. Beam.