The Gathering is an evening length performance experience that brings communities together through the joy, power, and history of Street and Club dance. Weaving live DJ sets, poetry, storytelling, and movement, the work creates an immersive environment where rhythm, memory, and shared presence take center stage.
Rooted in African Diasporic social dance traditions, The Gathering honors the cultural spaces where these forms were born, including family gatherings, clubs, parks, basements, basketball courts, and outdoor cyphers. For this Dance Complex series performance, the theater is intentionally reimagined as a communal space, cultivating the same energy, freedom, and connection found in those original gathering places. The audience is not just watching; they are part of the exchange.
Created in collaboration with professional dance artists from New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, the work reflects intergenerational knowledge, lived experience, and collective joy. Inspired by the artist’s upbringing immersed in Hip-Hop culture in Springfield, Massachusetts, The Gathering invites audiences into a personal and communal journey through American social dance shaped by resilience, creativity, and celebration.
At its core, The Gathering is about togetherness. It creates space for dancers, non-dancers, and community members to connect across differences, feel with one another, and recognize shared humanity. Full of joy, rhythm, and spirit, the performance is both a celebration and a declaration that affirms Street and Club dance as living cultural practices and powerful sites of community, belonging, and joy.
SHAKIA “THE KEY” BARRON:
Shakia “The Key” Barron is an accomplished choreographer, performer, and educator specializing in African Diasporic Street and Club dance forms, with a focus on Hip-Hop, House, and Funk styles. She is the Class of 1929 Dr. Virginia Apgar Assistant Professor of Dance at Mount Holyoke College and the Artistic Director of Kia The Key & Company.
Barron is widely recognized for her passionate teaching and commitment to honoring the roots, history, and cultural integrity of Street and Club dance forms while creating spaces for embodied connection, kinesthetic empathy, and communal joy. Her work bridges community-based practice and academic inquiry, making these forms more visible and accessible within institutional settings without separating them from their cultural foundations.
She has choreographed and directed over 70 works presented at colleges, festivals, and renowned dance institutions including Bates Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow. As a performer, Barron has toured nationally and internationally with Face Da Phlave Entertainment, Illstyle and Peace Productions, and Rennie Harris Puremovement, and has shared stages with major Hip-Hop artists and NBA halftime productions.
Through Kia The Key & Company, she looks forward to continuing to build spaces for gathering, collaboration, and cultural exchange by touring her evening-length work The Gathering and bringing Street and Club dance into theaters, public spaces, and communities across the country. Her ongoing work is rooted in joy, connection, and the belief that dance is a living practice for bringing people together.
Tickets Coming SoonIf you or a guest in your party has accessibility needs for this event, please contact Joe Juknievich at joe@dancecomplex.org or (617) 547-9363.
