WHY IT MATTERS
Under the Artistic Direction of Annie-B Parson, BDT generates its work through the collective curiosity of its directors, designers and performers, as they re-imagine character, relationship and context through choreographic, musical and visual structures. Each piece is developed over months of rehearsal in which the company collaborates on every component of the production. Our process is time-intensive and necessary for the creation of our original, multi-genre works. WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT.
Individual donations of any kind directly support artist’s fees and creative development.
THE CREATION CIRCLE
The BDT Creation Circle is a group of lead individual contributors committed to the development and support of the company’s newest works through major gifts designated for commissioning and world premieres.
Creation Circle members receive exclusive updates throughout the creation process, invitations to work-in-progress showings and previews, and behind the scenes access to the company’s artistic directors via reading lists, research and source materials, film and literary inspiration, and personal interaction.
To learn more about the BDT Creation Circle, or to join the Circle, please contact Executive Director Sara Pereira da Silva. [/one_half]
MAIL YOUR GIFT
To support our artistic programming at any time, click the link above (via credit card/PayPal) or send checks payable to “Big Dance Theater” to:
Big Dance Theater
303 Clinton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Big Dance Theater (Big Dance Theater, Inc.) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.
Big Dance Theater is supported, in part, by the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards program, the Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New York Theater Program; and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Big Dance Theater receives major support from the Starry Night Fund, Anonymous, Virginia and Timothy Millhiser, the W Trust, the Herding Cats Foundation, and the Heimbinder Family Foundation.
5-years of new work development, that includes The Mood Room world premiere at BAM and touring, plus two new major commissions yet to be announced.
Big Dance’s future project includes a book on the history(s) of Dance seen from a multifaceted lens to underscore that dance history is not a monolith– but prismatic, diverse and dynamic. We have commissioned 13 choreographers to rewrite the cis-white history that has dominated academia. These 13 poetic, subjective histories range from myth to rant to remembrance. The book will be co-edited by Parson and Thomas F. DeFrantz, published by Big Dance, Dancing Foxes, and Wesleyan Press.
Paying performers. (Period.)
Our Repertory Project aims to expand, share, and disseminate the company’s 30 years of repertory more broadly within the performing arts field. This program brings our work to professional dance and theater companies and universities. Led by master teachers and dancers of our work, this program works both ways; it’s also an opportunity to engage performers in more stable work all year round.
For each new production, Big Dance needs approximately 5 to 6 artist rehearsal residencies to develop the work. For instance, to create The Mood Room, Big Dance was fortunate enough to be in residency at: Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, LMCC on Governors Island, The Stephen Petronio Residency in Tivoli, NY, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, , and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
To keep our overhead low, Big Dance does not own any physical space. When we can’t leave town for rehearsals, our work takes place in multiple rental spaces around the city. Plus, our space needs include two storage units of costumes, set and props from 30 years of dances!.
Our Executive Director is Big Dance’s sole full-time staff position. Our ED is responsible for producing, hiring, managing, and executing contracts; maintaining the financial health of the company; promoting the work through ambitious marketing and development campaigns; communicating with different theaters ensuring the continuity of the company. For a small operation like ours, whose annual income is generated from grants that can be unreliable, a critical role like Sara’s can be in danger – so a portion of BDTXXX will be earmarked for the ED position, to ensure stability.
We are creating a 401K investment plan for Big Dance performers and staff. We’ve always worked hard to reflect the performer’s vital role through the support we offer: consistently raising the dancer’s salary year after year, offering sick leave, and now a 401K plan! This will provide a retirement safety net for dancers who have dedicated their artistic careers to Big Dance for years.
Contingencies are real!
Spread the word! Spread the work! We do our own marketing; but sometimes we need professional assistance and advice. We updated our logo this year and engaged Braulio Amado to do the work. More updates to come!
Your gift to the fund will help BDT achieve all that we have planned and more. Here’s to 30 years of experimenting and re-experimenting, imagining and reimagining – together!Please DONATE to BDTXXX!*
You are our feedback loop. We are speaking to you and dancing for you. We are in conversation with you. The audience/artist relationship is real and meaningful; it changes the work we make. Thank you for being part of us.
5-years of new work development, that includes The Mood Room world premiere at BAM and touring, plus two new major commissions yet to be announced.
Big Dance’s future project includes a book on the history(s) of Dance seen from a multifaceted lens to underscore that dance history is not a monolith– but prismatic, diverse and dynamic. We have commissioned 13 choreographers to rewrite the cis-white history that has dominated academia. These 13 poetic, subjective histories range from myth to rant to remembrance. The book will be co-edited by Parson and Thomas F. DeFrantz, published by Big Dance, Dancing Foxes, and Wesleyan Press.
Paying performers. (Period.)
Our Repertory Project aims to expand, share, and disseminate the company’s 30 years of repertory more broadly within the performing arts field. This program brings our work to professional dance and theater companies and universities. Led by master teachers and dancers of our work, this program works both ways; it’s also an opportunity to engage performers in more stable work all year round.
For each new production, Big Dance needs approximately 5 to 6 artist rehearsal residencies to develop the work. For instance, to create The Mood Room, Big Dance was fortunate enough to be in residency at: Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, LMCC on Governors Island, The Stephen Petronio Residency in Tivoli, NY, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, , and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
To keep our overhead low, Big Dance does not own any physical space. When we can’t leave town for rehearsals, our work takes place in multiple rental spaces around the city. Plus, our space needs include two storage units of costumes, set and props from 30 years of dances!.
Our Executive Director is Big Dance’s sole full-time staff position. Our ED is responsible for producing, hiring, managing, and executing contracts; maintaining the financial health of the company; promoting the work through ambitious marketing and development campaigns; communicating with different theaters ensuring the continuity of the company. For a small operation like ours, whose annual income is generated from grants that can be unreliable, a critical role like Sara’s can be in danger – so a portion of BDTXXX will be earmarked for the ED position, to ensure stability.
We are creating a 401K investment plan for Big Dance performers and staff. We’ve always worked hard to reflect the performer’s vital role through the support we offer: consistently raising the dancer’s salary year after year, offering sick leave, and now a 401K plan! This will provide a retirement safety net for dancers who have dedicated their artistic careers to Big Dance for years.
Contingencies are real!
Spread the word! Spread the work! We do our own marketing; but sometimes we need professional assistance and advice. We updated our logo this year and engaged Braulio Amado to do the work. More updates to come!
Your gift to the fund will help BDT achieve all that we have planned and more. Here’s to 30 years of experimenting and re-experimenting, imagining and reimagining – together!Please DONATE to BDTXXX!*
You are our feedback loop. We are speaking to you and dancing for you. We are in conversation with you. The audience/artist relationship is real and meaningful; it changes the work we make. Thank you for being part of us.