Dance for Social Justice™ Dance for Social Justice™

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  • About Danza Orgánica
    • DO Core Values
    • The Company
    • Resident Artists
    • Decolonizing Praxis
    • Media and Awards
    • Repertorio
    • Advisory Board
    • Sponsors, Partners, and Contributors
  • DONATE
  • mar parrilla
    • Solo Work
  • Calendar
  • Support Borikén
  • âs nupumukâunean (We Still Dance)
  • Ohke Kah Nippi Mehquontamūonk
  • Powering Cultural Futures Partnership
  • Dance for Social Justice
    • DSJ in our community!
  • We Create Festival
    • 2020 Artist Cohort
    • 2019 Artist Cohort
    • 2018 Artist Cohort
    • 2017 Artist Cohort
    • 2016 Artist Cohort
    • 2015 Artist Cohort
    • 2014 Artist Cohort
    • Application FAQ
  • Proyecto Melaza
  • Ongoing Projects
    • Indigeneity
    • Collaboration with Puerto Rico
    • Puerto Rico Cohort
    • Hurricane Maria Recovery Initiative
  • antiracist justice
    • healing justice resources
  • Community Relationships
    • Community Relationships
    • Running in Stillness
    • Vessel
  • Opportunities with Danza Orgánica
  • Contact Us


Check out DSJ featured at WBUR's The ARTery!



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: danceforsocialjustice@gmail.com

 

dance for social justice™ 

Founded in 2014, the Dance for Social Justice™ (DSJ) workshop grew out of Mar Parrilla’s desire to use dance as a tool for social change. While she was teaching dance in urban settings, she organically provided her students with dance composition tools with which they explored themselves and their communities. She quickly realized that combining literacy and dance composition was a great way to engage people of all ages in a holistic process of creation of dance for social justice.

Parrilla has worked as an educator in New York City and Boston public schools since 1998, and has a Master’s degree in Dance Education from New York University. The DSJ curriculum is informed by Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education as expressed 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. Examples of expressions within activism, such as: fist-up, hands-up, sit-in, and die-in, show us that everyday gestures give human beings a unique vocabulary to communicate with people around the world.

Dance for Social Justice™ is a process-based workshop that delves into the universal language of movement, to generate conversations and create art around social justice issues in our communities. Participants exercise solidarity through group-work, the exchange of ideas, and by engaging on intentional discussions. Through a guided dance composition process, participants explore basic elements of dance composition to collectively create original dance pieces that reflect their experiences. The movements are generated by themselves, following the model of "for us, by us". DSJ™ believes that when the community members themselves create, move, and perform their stories, the work is shared in the most vivid, accurate, and genuine way.

An optional informal showing and feedback/Q&A session, bring closure to the workshop.


For more information and booking inquiries, email: 

Contact us!