OFA Dance Artist Residency & Open Studios
OFA Dance Program Development Residency
The OFA Dance Program Pilot Development Residency is designed to be an educational learning lab where artists have focused time and space to be in process, explore, and experiment, while allowing students and community members the opportunity to witness and be part of the creative process.
The Spring ’26 inaugural artist-in-residence is Boston-based freestyle dancer, educator, community leader and organizer Ashton Lites, aka Stiggity Stackz, founding director of Stiggity Stackz Worldwide. Stackz has been a core collaborator of the OFA Dance Program since 2023 when the Dance Program first piloted its initiative Infinite Possibilities, the history, culture, and concepts behind freestyle dance. He is also a teaching artist for the Dance Program's Hip-Hop Community Class.
For his residency, Stiggity Stackz is assembling a core cast of freestyle dance veterans and innovators from Boston, Chicago, D.C., NYC, and L.A. to be in the studio with him. From February 6-15 and then from April 27-30, these artists will be at Harvard Dance Center creating a new work titled Crossfader, exploring and highlighting the genius of freestyle dance, from Hip-Hop to House, to Jersey club, and Chicago Footwork.
Crossfader is a choreographic performance inspired by the signature format of the Stackin’ Stylez freestyle dance battle where dancers respond to creative prompts in real time. This work brings that same spirit of discovery to the stage by exploring how freestyle dance concepts can shape and inform a choreographed work. Crossfader invites viewers into the world of freestyle dance in an accessible, engaging way, highlighting both its cultural roots and its innovative potential on stage. – Ashton “Stiggity Stackz” Lites.
Open Studios & Informal Showing
Students and community members are invited to be in the room during in-process rehearsals as part of OFA Dance Open Studios. Each Open Studio will include embodied participation, observation, and dialogue between the audience and artists. Through this feedback exchange, the community helps to shape the work. All are welcome and encouraged to attend multiple Open Studios (read below for more details), as each one will be in a different stage of the process and engaging in different experimentations.
Furthermore, there are several overlaps with the OFA year-long residency with Chicago-based The Era Footwork Collective. Stackz will also be inviting artists from The Era Footwork Collective into his creative residency week.
The residency will culminate in an Informal Showing with Q&A on April 30, 2026, 6-7:30pm, at Harvard Dance Center that will be open to the community.
See below to learn more about the work, curricular connections, OFA Dance Open Studios and Informal Showing!
Description for Crossfader
Crossfader is an evening-length choreographic work that explores and highlights the genius of freestyle dance, a Black innovated art form. Inspired by the signature format of the Stackin’ Stylez freestyle dance battle where dancers respond to creative prompts in real time, this work brings that same spirit of discovery to the stage by exploring how freestyle dance concepts can shape and inform a choreographed work.
Dancers in Crossfader will explore the articulation of four fundamental movement ideas– Bounce, Rock, Footwork, and Isolation– core building blocks across many freestyle traditions. They will additionally layer onto these foundations a series of concepts, or creative prompts, that challenge dancers to shift their timing, intention, texture, and approach. Through the layering and articulation by dancers representing different movement styles, audiences will gain insight into the science of freestyle dance: how dancers make choices, interpret rhythm, and express individuality through foundational techniques. Additionally, dancers will be challenged to deepen their own understanding of these concepts and make connections between shared lineages. Crossfader seeks to incorporate audience interaction, film, animation, and live projection-mapping for a high-energy immersive experience.
As a potential touring work, the vision is for a core cast of freestyle dance veterans and innovators from across the country to converge and work alongside a locally curated cast in each city, collaborating with local freestyle dance artists, events, music producers, and Illuminus, an experiential projection mapping organization. The goal of Crossfader is to invite audiences into the world of freestyle dance in an accessible, engaging way, highlighting both its cultural roots and its innovative potential on stage.
Research Themes
- Dance as a culture, language, and way of knowing specific to and reflective of place and time.
- Deconstructing intersectional and systemic hierarchies of power in dance creation, performance, evaluation, and institutions.
- Freestyle dance and music as a form of resilience , liberation, and real-time movement research.
- Exploring Black embodied narratives.
- The global impact and influence of Black aesthetic/freestyle dance.
Research Questions
- How do dance and art build community/community power?
- What does it mean to bring “street dance” into theater and academic institutions; how does recontextualizing this lineage change its meaning?
- What are the implications for codifying freestyle dance (e.g., Stackin’ Stylez Concepts)?
- How can we reframe and preserve Black histories through freestyle dance collaboration?
- How can the integration of film, animation, and motion capture expand and/or emphasize these themes?
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.
Below are current Spring 2026 courses who are directly connecting their coursework to the Spring 2026 OFA Dance Program Artist Residency and Open Studios:
- WOMGEN 1471: Art, Culture, and the Global Struggle for Black Liberation, led by Dr. Marius Kothor, Assistant Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
- T421 Arts and Learning Practicum, led by Dr., Louisa Penfold, Lecturer on Education, Faculty Co-Chair, Arts and Learning Concentration
- TDM 140DL: Dance Lineages , led by Dr. Laura Quinton, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media
- TDM106P Embodied Dramaturgy, led by Jeffrey L. Page, Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media
- MMH 710: Embodied Storytelling, led by Pontus Lidberg, Artist-in-Residence, Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health
- FYSEMR 73H: From Gods to Satire, led by Dr. Shai Dromi, Associate Senior Lecturer on Sociology
You're invited into the creative process during the OFA Dance Program's Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence with Boston-based freestyle dancer Ashton Lites, aka Stiggity Stackz. Be in the room with Stiggity Stackz and his collaborators– freestyle dance veterans and innovators from Boston, Chicago, D.C., NYC, and L.A.– as they create a new work, Crossfader, exploring and highlighting the genius of freestyle dance, from Hip-Hop to House, to Jersey club, and Chicago Footwork.
Dates/Times
Tuesday, February 10, 6:30-8pm
Wednesday, February 11, 4:30-6pm
Thursday, February 12, 6:30-8pm, followed by a Freestyle Dance Battle Workshop from 8-9:30pm
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)
The week will culminate in Infinite Possibilities: Through Footwork on Friday, February 13, 6-9pm, at Lowell Lecture Hall.
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.
Choreographer and Founding Director of RootsUprising Dance Company, Nailah Randall-Bellinger, invites you into her creative process for a new work titled Witness Trees. The work will be presented in the historic gardens and former plantation of Middleton Place in Charleston, SC, in the summer of 2026, explores the symbiotic relationship between nature and the enslaved African laborers who lived and worked there.
Nailah is also an OFA Dance Program regular Teaching Artist for its Community Classes.
Dates/Times
Saturday, March 7, 2-3:30pm
Saturday, April 4, 2-3:30pm
Location
Harvard Dance Center, Studio 2 (lower level), 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!
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!