As of Feburary 2023, The Dance Complex no longer has access to this space at Kendall Square. We are grateful to BioMed Reality for allowing us to grace this space with movement through performances, showings, classes, intensives, and more since 2021.
Intentions for the Space…
We had intended to use this space primarily for artists to develop their work in self-designed residencies, with the definition of work and residency as wide and deep and unique to your needs as you wish to make it.
Examples of Canal Space usage:
- Multi-week repeating rehearsal block for 4 hours on Mondays
- 5-day intensive rehearsal period for a 6 person company, working with a set and props
- Workshops for a contained group focusing on movement practice or technique exploration or improvisation
- Some are interested in holding company warmups and rehearsals with a consistent live group in the space and including virtual attendees; others are interested in live streaming performances or filming for later release.
We were interested in celebrating unique voices in performance, with an encouragement to artists who blend boundaries among comedy, drama, spoken word, vocals, dance, movement and music. Visual artists that included performance, media or any mixed media were welcome to apply. Those artists with strong ties to Central Square/Cambridge were encouraged to submit interest, as were BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and those with Disabilities.
How is this funded?
The space itself is a gift of BioMed Reality to The Dance Complex for the 2021 year. The other costs to the space include the sprung floor, an additional floating floor, soft goods (blacks, extra lights), the administration and cleaning of the space. Aside for partial funding to cover the sprung floor, there is no other funding in place as of this writing to support these costs. We will continue to seek funding to help artists achieve what they wish to in the space.
A sliding scale for non-profits/non-commercial uses of the space will be administered. Applicants will be asked to share if they have grant monies in place from other sources to help support the investment of their time in the space. We will try to work with everyone’s budget, and to help advise on fundraising. Fees and subsidizing will be based on hourly time used, with different values applied to uses of the space (rehearsal, performance, filming). All users will be asked to contribute to a safe space, and are expected to follow COVID-19 protocols throughout the use of their time in the space.
A small percentage of overall time will be allotted to commercial use of the space to help us support nonprofit/noncommercial usage.
Artists who had been engaged by The Dance Complex in one of their residency programs and then were displaced by the COVID-19 closure will be among those using the space. We also hope to host other programs initiated by other organizations who have been affected by shutdowns.