OFA Dance Open Studios
OFA Dance Open Studios
In OFA Open Studios, students and community members are invited to observe the creative process and engage with the artists.
Open Studios
The OFA Dance Program hosts and supports professional artists at various stages of their creative process. Students and community members are invited to be in the room for open rehearsals, sharings of works-in-process, and research sessions as part of OFA Dance Open Studios. Each Open Studio may include Q&A, embodied participation, observation, and dialogue between the audience and artists. Through this feedback exchange, the community deepens their understanding of dance and the creative process while helping to shape the work.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend multiple Open Studios as each one will be in a different stage of the process and engaging in different experimentations.
See below to learn more about the work, curricular connections, and upcoming OFA Dance Open Studios and Informal Showings!
You're invited to witness three works-in-process by 2026 choreographers of Boston-based dance organization MIDDAY Movement Series Rough Drafts program: Mira Göksel, Simon Montalvo, and Aiden Marshall.
Get an inside look into the creative process of new dance works which span investigations into Black Futures; solidarity-building through collective power; and an ode to to the ongoing revolutionary acts done by journalists, protestors, and artists alike in Türkiye, fighting for autonomy.
See the final works presented on stage at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA/Boston) on October 23, 2026.
About MIDDAY Movement Series and Rough Drafts
MIDDAY Movement Series is a BIPOC-led grassroots initiative cultivating a new, diverse generation of dance leaders through professional development, mentorship, and advocacy. By providing focused support to emerging contemporary dance teachers, MIDDAY is creating a leadership pipeline, improving talent retention, and increasing workforce readiness in Metro Boston.
Rough Drafts, a program of MIDDAY Movement Series, is a choreographic lab and teaching residency that supports three emerging Boston-based artists working in contemporary dance. Rough Drafts supports three artists per cycle in a three-pronged approach: 1) a teaching residency, where artists receive pedagogical support through seven company-class style workshops; 2) an informal studio work-in-progress showing; 3) a fully produced work-in-progress showcase.
Artist Bios
Simon Montalvo (they/them) is an interdisciplinary movement artist, researcher, and collector of stories born on the land once nurtured by the Coahuiltecan and Karankawan peoples. Simon’s choreographic works investigate bounding athleticism, nourishing emotional offerings, and sobering truths laid against abstracted realities.
Mira Göksel (they/them) is an Interdisciplinary Movement Artist from Izmir, TR, currently existing on the land of the Massachusett and Pawtucket Peoples, colonially referred to as Boston, MA. Their work is an ode through movement and song to the ongoing revolutionary acts done by journalists, protestors, and artists alike in Türkiye, fighting for autonomy.
Aiden Marshall (he/him) is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Boston, MA. Marshall’s choreography is inspired by West African and Afro-diasporic techniques and aesthetics, and their influences in Western concert dance. His movement research extends into portraying Black American experiences, sharing queer narratives, and using somatic-based practices for collective healing and liberation.
Date/Time
Saturday, September 12, 6-8pm
Location
Harvard Dance Center, Studio 1, 66 Garden St., Cambridge, MA
Attending
All open studios are free and open to the public!
Please RSVP by registering through the OFA's registration portal.
(For non-Harvard affiliates, follow the instructions to create a Harvard Guest account)
Accessibility
The Harvard Dance Center is wheelchair and mobility device accessible. If you have questions about the accessibility provided or anticipate needing any accommodation to participate, please email dance@fas.harvard.edu or 617-496-0314.
You're invited to witness two open rehearsals of a new evening-length work by dance company Soca Fusion, led by Ella Wechler-Mattaei. The work is rooted in Soca, Caribbean, and Carnival traditions, celebrating joy, resilience, and embodied expression within the Black diaspora. Created by a collective of dancers, choreographers, and live musicians, it traces a journey from everyday life to the liberation of Carnival, blending Soca, Caribbean folklore, West African, hip hop, dancehall, and Afrobeats movement vocabularies. Through performance and community workshops, Soca Fusion centers Black embodied knowledge, invites multi‑generational engagement, and expands the national dance landscape by elevating dance forms historically under‑represented in U.S. concert contexts.
Ella is also a regular Teaching Artist, teaching Soca Fusion as part of the OFA Dance Program's Community Courses.
Dates/Times
Friday, October 2, 6:30-8pm
Friday, October 30, 6:30-8pm
Location
Harvard Dance Center, Studio 1, 66 Garden St., Cambridge, MA
Attending
All open studios are free and open to the public! You're encourage to attend more than one to get deeper into the work.
Please RSVP by registering through the OFA's registration portal.
(For non-Harvard affiliates, follow the instructions to create a Harvard Guest account)
Accessibility
The Harvard Dance Center is wheelchair and mobility device accessible. If you require elevator access to Studio 2 (lower level), please let the host at the front know and they will provide instructions. If you have questions about the accessibility provided or anticipate needing any accommodation to participate, please email dance@fas.harvard.edu or 617-496-0314. We welcome a conversation with you!
A goal of the both the Residency and Open Studios is to facilitate meaningful connections between the artists and Harvard students, specifically via collaboration and connection to undergraduate coursework.
Please check back for curricular courses connecting to the work.
The Harvard Dance Center is wheelchair and mobility device accessible. If you have questions about the accessibility provided or anticipate needing any accommodation to participate, please email dance@fas.harvard.edu or 617-496-0314. We welcome a conversation with you!