Climate change performance 'SURGE' coming to East Boston's Piers Park
A Boston Dance Theater (BDT) performance called SURGE is coming to Piers Park this July, featuring three East Boston-based creators.
Under a Coastal Community residency supported by The Boston Foundation in partnership with The Trustees, Jenny Oliver, Veronica Robles, and Maria Servellón will take part in the performance to share stories about local climate events and moments of resilience through movement and the spoken word, while envisioning a thriving future for the East Boston community.
During the 45-minute production, hosted in Piers Park on July 30 and 31, audience members will be encouraged to mingle with performers and a local climate scientist.
“Boston Dance Theater couldn’t be more thrilled to launch the pilot SURGE Fellowship in East Boston during such a pivotal moment for our planet’s health,” said Jessie Jeanne Stinnett, Boston Dance Theater Founder and Co-Artistic Director. “With supportive federal leadership, we now have the chance to confront the climate crisis in a big and meaningful way through policy and in our own communities. It is my privilege to be able to engage this cohort of thoughtful East Boston artists to collaborate and align our practices toward this goal.”
The two-month SURGE Coastal Community Fellowship residency program was designed for a group of BIPOC movement artists residing in coastal communities that are vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise. The Fellowship began in May, with Fellows being guided through a creative art+science+climate activism workshop series designed by: Stinnett, as SURGE Project Lead and Choreographer; Dr. Larry J. Pratt, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Senior Scientist; and the BIPOC Core Members of BDT. During this process, Fellows will learn about Boston-area sea level rise research as well as Stinnett and Pratt's strategies for art+science collaboration. Fellows will also gain access to resources for climate activism and continued learning through the Climate Reality Project, founded by former US Vice President and Climate Activist Al Gore.
The Fellowship will culminate in all three artists taking part in the July SURGE performance.
“The Trustees is honored to take part in this powerful production,” said Vidya Tikku, Trustees Vice President-Urban Outdoors. “The goals of this performance closely align with those of our future waterfront park in East Boston, Piers Park III, which is being designed to be a climate resilient, welcoming, and iconic park on Boston’s harbor.”
The final SURGE performance will draw on the artists’ individual backgrounds and experiences, using scientific and artistic material explored throughout the workshops.
A Boston-based trauma informed, culturally responsive, kinetic storyteller, JENNY OLIVER is inspired by the transformative power of movement to educate, heal, and connect. An enrolled member of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, her experiences as an African American person of Cape Verdean/Native American heritage inform her creative process. She is a professor of dance at Tufts University, Emerson College and Mount Holyoke College. Her choreography has been presented at the Boston Center for the Arts, the MFA Boston, Mark Morris Dance Center, Tufts Arts Galleries and upcoming she will be presented at WBUR’s CitySpace, One’s to Watch Series. In 2020, utilizing a holistic approach, she developed a civic engagement residency with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics/Office of Budget Management. When she is not teaching or choreographing she is a performer with Roots Uprising under the Artistic Direction of Nailah Randall-Bellinger.
MARIA SERVELLÓN is an award-winning filmmaker, multimedia artist, educator, and arts advocate from Boston, MA. She received her BA in Studio Art from UMass Boston, and her MFA in Film and Media Art from Emerson College. Her focus is film and digital media, including projection, installation, photography, and design. Maria's work often explores synesthetic relationships between art, music, and dance within identity formation. Maria's work has been exhibited and screened in Massachusetts, New York, California, Oregon, the UK, and Mexico thus far. One of her most lauded works to date is the magic-realist short film, Hyphen (2018). In recent years, she was named one of 2018's "Latinos 30 Under 30" by El Mundo Boston; a 2019 New England Film Star Award finalist; a 2020 Amplify Latinx "Latina Leader" and a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Young Leader honoree; and has won grants, fellowships, and residencies from the Mayor's Office Of Arts & Culture, Boston Arts & Business Council, Boston Public Schools, Danza Orgánica, and Mass MoCA.
VERONICA ROBLES is a Mariachi singer, musician and Latin American folkloric dancer and choreographer by trade but has become a cultural icon for Latinos in Boston. She has effectively utilized the power of the arts and culture to bring the community together by raising awareness on the importance of diversity and she has empowered the youth by employing them and teaching them about their roots and cultures. Robles is Co-founder and Director of the Veronica Robles Cultural Center that supports community action and economic growth in East Boston and offers Latin American arts and culture programming and provides jobs for youth. Recently she was honored with the national 2021 Changemakers Award presented by the Institute of Non-Profit Practice. In November 2019 Ms. Robles received the Ohtli Award. This Award is one of the highest and very limited distinctions given by the Government of Mexico. Veronica Robles is a woman of courage and principles; as a cancer survivor she lives her life to the fullest, filled with joy, passion, and love. Her work honors the memory of her only daughter who passed away as a teenager.
The three Fellows will be supported by collaborators, with Maria Servellón working beside Neha Rayamajhi and Torie Wojick; Jenny Oliver working beside Ruka White; and Veronica Robles working beside Luis E. Arango Meneses and Jose Luis Ortega.
This East Boston Fellowship is part of a multi-year project led by Stinnett to engage multiple coastal communities in the New England area that are vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise. The work was initially funded by the Boston Dancemakers Residency award in 2020, but the creation was cut short by COVID-19 cancellations. The inaugural East Boston performance will take place beside the future Piers Park III site (onewaterfront.org/pp3), being designed and developed by The Trustees in close collaboration with the community.
To learn more about the performance, the Fellows, and their collaborators, visit: bostondancetheater.com/fellowship.