Dancing La Botanica will feature performances from Curet Performance Project, Bombazo Dance Company, and Redi Dance. Post-show conversation moderated by Leenda Bonilla.

Bronx Grows Dance is a two-day live and interactive dance event, produced by Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative in collaboration with BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, that centers the question: How could our youth re-imagine the future of dance if given space and time to gather and ignite?

Bronx Grows Dance is inspired by Pepatián’s collective project, Dancing la Botanica, a collective platform for Latino/a/x choreographers, dance makers, and movement artists that helps create connections and remove some of the segregation and isolation that can often foster competition more than cooperation in Latinx dance communities. Pepatián provides backup and support for wherever this collective wishes to travel with their ideas, strategies, and dreams.

The Dancing la Botanica project was initiated by Dr. Jane Gabriels who saw a need for more specific support, and this seed of an idea connected right away to the work and research of Beatrice Capote (Associate Professor, Contemporary Dance, Indiana University) with Alicia Díaz (Associate Professor of Dance, University of Richmond, VA) who were invited to co-lead the project in 2019. Now in its fourth year, Dancing la Botanica supports the work of multi-disciplinary artists, including visual artists, which connect to the organization’s original co-founders: visual artist and MacArthur Fellow Pepón Osorio, choreographer Merián Soto, and dance and puppet theater maker Patti Bradshaw. www.pepatian.org

This May 2022 Bronx Grows Dance project is supported by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and individual contributions to Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative.

Note: BAAD! requires that all attendees will provide full proof of vaccination prior to entry. The wearing of masks is optional.