Mission

Modern Connections' mission is to push the edges of visceral movement, provoking personal reflection, conversation, and community transformation.

Latest News

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Discount code MOVE19 to take 25% off any ticket price point. Link to tickets in bio.

To use the code, you must enter MOVE19 before picking seats on the seat map. 

There's a button that says "unlock" - click it, enter the promo code, then the reduced seat price appears and then pick your seats. 

Modern Connections is in the inaugural group for the Ailey Ambassador Program with The Celebrity Series of Boston to promote more affordable access to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Boston May 2-5, 2024. Tickets are already selling, don't wait.

Performance Information: May 2-5 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre
THURSDAY, May 2 at 8pm & Sunday, May 5 at 3pm
CENTURY by Amy Hall Garner (2023)
Ode by Jamar Roberts (2019)
Revelations by Alvin Ailey (1960)

FRIDAY, May 3 at 8pm & Saturday, May 4 at 8pm
Following the Subtle Current Upstream by Alonzo King (2000, new production 2023)
Dancing Spirit by Ronald K. Brown (2009, new production 2023)
Revelations by Alvin Ailey (1960)

SATURDAY, May 4 at 2pm: Ailey Classics
All choreography by Alvin Ailey.
Memoria, excerpts (1979)
Night Creature, excerpts (1974)
Pas de Duke, excerpt (1976)
Masekela Langage, excerpt (1969)
Opus McShann, excerpt (1988)
Love Songs, excerpt (1972)
For 'Bird' - With Love, excerpt 1 (1984)
Reflections In D (1963)
For 'Bird' - With Love, excerpt 2 (1984)
Revelations (1960)

Modern Connections News: March Edition

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Schedule: There are no changes to the class schedule for this month.

Price Increase: Starting March 17th, the price of Modern Connections classes will increase. Purchase of single 1.5-hour classes will now be $20 and 2-hour classes will be $22.

As an organization, we prioritize keeping the cost of class low. In line with our values, the price of Modern Connections classes remained at $15 for several years. To facilitate a smoother sign-up process, we made a modest increase to $16 a couple of years ago to account for Vagaro’s transaction fees. The March 2024 cost adjustment brings more sustainability to our budget as we attend to factors like organizational growth and widespread inflation.

To encourage consistent practice and reduce the cost of class, we will be offering a “Consistency Builds Strength” package of 4 classes for $72. Packages will expire a month from purchase.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments about the price increase, please fill out our feedback form.




PC: Stefanie Belnavis of the Diahann Project

Modern Connections News: February Edition

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February 23rd @ 7 pm: Through her role as Creative in Residence, Jenny will perform with Marimbist Steph Davis at Black to the Future. Prepare to be transported through time and space with live performances, captivating visuals, and cosmic confections. Immerse yourself in an atmosphere that echoes the interstellar vibes of Afrofuturism and help ensure a brilliant future for Castle of Our Skins. This Afrofuturist soiree will begin at 7:00 pm on February 23rd at Black Market in Roxbury. Support COOS in promoting Black artistry, history, and culture by purchasing a General Admission ticket for $50. Sponsor levels begin at $500.

Modern Connections News: January Edition

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Celebration Corner

Modern Connections Fundraiser: Thank you to the 104 supporters who donated and all those who amplified the Modern Connections 2023 Fundraiser! With your help, we raised $8,021 to sustain and expand our work. We are deeply grateful to be a part of such an affirming and generous community.

Interested in Supporting Throughout the Year? You can donate to Modern Connections any time by clicking the Donate button on our website, or following this link to our Givebutter page.

As you plan your giving for 2024, we invite you to consider becoming a Modern Connections monthly donor. Simply follow one of the links above and select “Monthly” in the frequency options along the top of the form.

Modern Connections News: December Edition 2023

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Mini Documentary: The Modern Connections Mini Documentary is now available on YouTube. Let us know what you think and enter to win a free class through the Modern Connections feedback form.

Modern Connections brings people together by pushing the edges of visceral movement through collaboration, education and creating spaces for individual and collective reflection.   

Modern Connections is a multifaceted organization that: 1. Offers weekly low-cost public adult dance classes 2. Hosts interdisciplinary workshops 3. Cultivates partnerships with public, private, and government entities 4. Choreographs thought-provoking performances Classes are the heart of Modern Connections. ❤️ When Modern Connections classes launched in 2014, its singular weekly class saw just a few attendees. Over the past nine years, hundreds of people have joined the Modern Connections community. Now classes are offered 3-4 times a week at three studios in Greater Boston.   

What Your Support Means for Classes: 1. Overall: Your support allows us to continue offering Modern dance classes to the public at low to no cost. You can help us maintain accessible prices in the midst of a recovering economy, an inflationary period, and a year of organizational growth. 2. Access: Modern dance training is typically only available in university settings or professional dance companies. Modern Connections offers a rare opportunity by making this genre accessible to the public. 3. Pricing: Modern Connections prioritizes people over profit by keeping its offerings affordable. Regardless of class length or the cost of studio rentals, the class price remains $16. Subsidies: The cost of class is free or subsidized for a variety of participants including work-study students. Testimonial: “I am grateful deeply for the sacred and safe space that is Modern Connections, a healing space of mind, body and soul.” - Charles Murrell  

What Your Support Means for Performances: 1. Creative Economy: Performances create work opportunities for a variety of creatives - from dancers and stage managers, to lighting designers and sound engineers. 2. Dancer Pay: Modern Connections strives to provide consistent opportunities for dancers through long-term projects and to maintain market rate wages. 3. Community Transformation: Modern Connections performances are designed to cultivate impact beyond a singular moment or event. The themes of the work and engagement with the audience cultivate opportunities for individual and community transformation.  

Testimonial: “Thank YOU for a fabulous weekend and for bringing mindfulness to movement for our museum guests! People absolutely loved you all." - Museum Presenter


End of Year Fundraiser

DONATE HERE

Modern Connections is a multifaceted organization that:

  1. Offers weekly low-cost public adult dance classes
  2. Hosts interdisciplinary workshops
  3. Cultivates partnerships with public, private, and government entities
  4. Choreographs thought-provoking performances

What Your Support Means for Classes:

  • Overall: Your support allows us to continue offering Modern dance classes to the public at low to no cost. You can help us maintain accessible prices in the midst of a recovering economy, an inflationary period, and a year of organizational growth.
  • Access: Modern dance training is typically only available in university settings or professional dance companies. Modern Connections offers a rare opportunity by making this genre accessible to the public.
  • Pricing: Modern Connections prioritizes people over profit by keeping its offerings affordable. Regardless of class length or the cost of studio rentals, the class price remains $16.
  • Subsidies: The cost of class is free or subsidized for a variety of participants including work-study students.

Testimonial: “I am grateful deeply for the sacred and safe space that is Modern Connections, a healing space of mind, body and soul.” - Charles Murrell @theblackcomposerspeaks


What Your Support Means for Performances:

  • Creative Economy: Performances create work opportunities for a variety of creatives - from dancers and stage managers, to lighting designers and sound engineers.
  • Dancer Pay: Modern Connections strives to provide consistent opportunities for dancers through long-term projects and to maintain market rate wages.
  • Community Transformation: Modern Connections performances are designed to cultivate impact beyond a singular moment or event. The themes of the work and engagement with the audience cultivate opportunities for individual and community transformation.

Testimonial: “Thank YOU for a fabulous weekend and for bringing mindfulness to movement for our museum guests! People absolutely loved you all." - Museum Presenter

Modern Connections News: November Edition 2023

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Grant Awarded: Last month, Modern Connections was honored to be one of the 18 Black-owned small businesses in New England selected for the 2023 PowerForward Small Business Grant. Now in its third year, this award is a collaboration between VistaPrint, the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, and the NAACP. In addition to receiving $25,000, Modern Connections will also benefit from marketing and design consultations with VistaPrint. You can check out the impact this grant has had on other local businesses through this short video.

Belonging at Hibernian Hall

November 5 • Hiberian Hall, Roxbury, MA​


Join us at 3:00 p.m. for participatory, artist-curated workshops designed to deepen one’s connection to oneself, followed at 4:00 p.m. by an immersive mix of music, dance, and spoken word performances. Light refreshments will be provided.


Tickets for this interactive and thought-provoking experience are FREE with a donation to Castle of Our Skins encouraged. Reservations can be placed online.


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Modern Connections News: October Edition 2023

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October 21st - Boston Dance Film Festival: An excerpt of Jenny’s dance film, Hot Water Over Raised Fists: a closer look at belonging, has been selected for the inaugural year of the Boston Dance Film Festival. Join us in celebrating dance cinema on October 21st at Somerville Theater from 6-9 pm. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here. Check out some behind-the-scenes footage of the film on the Modern Connections Instagram and clips of some of the selected films on the Boston Dance Film Festival IG.

Call For Artists In Roxbury/Boston

Submissions are due Monday, October 9th, 2023, by 11:59 p.m.


We're seeking artists of different disciplines to create interactive experiences that answer the question, "What does it mean to belong to a person, to a place, to yourself?" Chosen pieces will be showcased at Belonging on Sunday, November 5th, from 3-4 p.m. at Hibernian Hall (184 Dudley Street, Nubian Square) and immediately followed by an immersive mix of music, dance, and spoken word performances.


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Boston Dance Film Festival

October 21st, 6:30 p.m. • Somerville Theatre


Join us for an evening of dance film. We are thrilled to be selected for the first ever Boston Dance Film Festival. Screening at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square on October 21st at 6:30pm. Doors open at 6:00pm. Not only will you get to see the best dance films in Boston, the screening will be followed by a Q&A with the artists. Tickets are on sale now.


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Modern Connections News: September Edition 2023

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RootsUprising Performance: It was wonderful to see many of you at last month’s RootsUprising conference and performance. We celebrated the shared collaborative production of dance, film, music, and spoken word. The photo above was captured during “Packing the Sack,” a piece inspired and shaped by All That She Carried by Tiya Miles and the autobiographical stories of each RootsUprising dancer.


PC: Greg Cooke

Modern Connections News: August Edition 2023

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ArtBeat Festival: Last month’s performance for Somerville Arts Council's ArtBeat Festival was well received. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend. Jenny is happy to have had the opportunity to share her work with and for a community that she has been serving for the past 9 years. Deep thanks to Madi Crozier, Izzi King, Michaela Romulo, and Anelise Tatum for their beautiful dancing.

Bates Dance Festival: It was a pleasure to return to Bates Dance Festival this year to work with the Young Dancers Intensive: Extensions.



PC: JHsu media

Modern Connections News: July Edition 2023

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Small Business Growth Fund: Modern Connections was selected to receive funding through the Small Business Growth Fund: a Hello Alice grant program offered in partnership with Global Entrepreneurship Network and funded through Etsy and Progressive. This program funds small business owners looking to reach their next milestone. We’re excited to use this grant to continue growing Modern Connections and providing Boston with high quality dance training, educational programs, and collaborative experiences that create space for reflection and connection.

Modern Connections News: June Edition 2023

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June 11: Modern Connections and Rukadance Audition

Modern Connections and Rukadance will be holding a joint open call audition on June 11 from 2:00-5:00 pm in Studio 1 of The Dance Complex. Learn more about the audition details and register here. Navigate to the week of June 11-17 to submit your $10 audition fee here.

Modern Connections News: May Edition 2023

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Recap of Belonging Workshop

“I loved being able to come together with the other participants from a wide range of experience levels and movement backgrounds and be together in such a warm and welcoming dance community and to create something together.”

- Belonging Workshop Participant

Thank you to the participants and audience of last month’s workshop on belonging! After reflecting on ideas about belonging and engaging in a choreographic design session, the 10 participants presented the piece that they co-created throughout the day-long workshop. We will be pursuing funding opportunities to offer an extended version of this workshop in the future.

Dance Education in the Greater Boston area

Welcome to Modern Connections, where we foster the transformative power of movement. With classes, performances, workshops, and community events throughout the Greater Boston area, we are more than a place to learn dance technique; we are an artistic community dedicated to bridging the realms of dance, education, ...

Embracing the Power of Dance at Modern Connections

In the Greater Boston area, resurgence of dance is unfolding and Modern Connections is providing momentum. Here, we embrace dance as a language, a bridge, and a tool for change. We're not just about the physical steps; we're about purposeful movement and meaningful connections.

Our philosophy is far from ...

We are proud to participate in the Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program, in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming. See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.


When Modern Connections hosts an event that is not free, EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders will pay $5 for tickets. The work of Modern Connections is sometimes hosted by other organizations who may or may not be participating in Card to Culture, or who may have different rates for Card to Culture participants. We will clearly indicate in our promotional materials and on our website the rates and opportunities for cardholders.


For Modern Connections workshops, one spot will be reserved for a Card to Culture patron and the cost will be $5. In the workshop sign-up form there will be a space for prospective participants to indicate if they are cardholders.

Open Adult Dance Classes

Open Adult Dance Classes

Beginner to Intermediate: Saturday AM

This class builds the necessary vocabulary and body awareness required for the Horton technique. Flat Back, Lateral, Flat Back Backbend, …
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$20.00 per class

Advanced Intermediate: Tuesday PM

This class will continue to expand the vocabulary built in Level I, continuing to learn the fortifications, preludes, and studies of the …
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$20.00 per class

Advanced Intermediate: Thursday PM

This class will continue to expand the vocabulary built in Level I, continuing to learn the fortifications, preludes, and studies of the …
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$22.00 per class

Class Schedule

Beginner to Intermediate

Beginner to Intermediate

Dance Complex 536 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 --- December Schedule December 2nd: Studio 6 December 9th: Studio 6
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Testimonials

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