DSJ workshop as part of the Skeleton Architecture and Summer Stages Dance programming at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Photo Credit: Tony Turner
To book a DSJ workshop, please contact: danzaorganica@gmail.com
dance for social justice™
Founded in 2014, the Dance for Social Justice™ (DSJ) workshop was born from Mar Parrilla’s desire to use dance as a tool for social change. While teaching in urban settings, she organically provided her students with dance composition tools, enabling them to explore both themselves and their communities. She soon realized that combining literacy with dance composition was an effective way to engage people of all ages in a holistic process of creating dance for social justice.
Parrilla has worked as an educator in New York City and Boston public schools since 1998 and holds a Master’s degree in Dance Education from New York University. The DSJ curriculum is informed by Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education, as outlined in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, her studies on dance composition, and her experience as a performer and choreographer in the diaspora.
DSJ is open to youth, teens, and adults of all experience levels. Workshop space is limited, and pre-registration is required.
Program Description
The body thinks first, making dance one of the most honest forms of expression. Activist gestures like the fist-up, hands-up, sit-in, and die-in demonstrate that everyday movements provide a unique vocabulary through which human beings communicate across cultures.
Dance for Social Justice™ is a process-based workshop that explores the universal language of movement to spark conversations and create art around social justice issues in our communities. Participants build solidarity through group work, the exchange of ideas, and intentional discussions. Through a guided dance composition process, participants explore the basic elements of dance to collectively create original pieces that reflect their experiences. Movements are self-generated, following the model of "for us, by us." DSJ™ believes that when community members create, move, and perform their own stories, the work is shared in the most vivid, accurate, and genuine way.
An optional informal showing, followed by a feedback and Q&A session, brings the workshop to a close.
For more information and booking inquiries, please email:
