WestFest: All Over Westbeth is a site-specific program showing a variety of unconventional and unique approaches to dance and space within the Westbeth Artists' Residence buildings.

More Info Here

Smashworks Dance hosts open company classes for the local dance community!

Pay what you can.

RSVP by 8pm the night before:

Email smashworksdance@gmail.com

Where:

Pure Barre Jersey City (207 Van Vorst St, 10 minute walk from the Grove Street path stop or 13 min walk from Exchange Place path stop)

OR

Pure Barre Hoboken (70 Hudson Street, 2 minute walk from the Hoboken path stop)

When: select Fridays from 1:30-3pm

April 28 - Jersey City

Summer dates coming soon.

@CPR | Smashworks Dance: CITY STORIES 

NOVEMBER 18 @ 7:30PM

NOVEMBER 19 @ 5PM & 7:30PM

TICKETS HERE

Smashworks Dance is pleased to announce its evening-length performance CITY STORIES, live at Center for Performance Research in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, November 18-19, 2022. CITY STORIES is a multimedia performance inspired by the verve, challenges, and elation of living in New York City. This interdisciplinary collaboration brings together choreography and immersive video projections by Ashley McQueen, and paintings on Metropolitan Transit Authority subway maps by Benny Cruz. 

An episodic pastiche of emotional peaks and valleys, CITY STORIES teeters between sublimity and deluge, showing the unheroic heroism of surviving in New York City’s ecosystem. 

Drawing together choreography, video installation, painting, and audience participation, CITY STORIES is a malleable and deeply personal expression of everyday life in an unpredictable mirage. Choreography is sourced from the dancers’ reflections and personal narratives and improvisations based on written audience submissions throughout the performance. Upon entry, attendees receive a miniature subway map and are encouraged to share their own words for integration into the live performance.  CITY STORIES honors a multiplicity of experiences with narratives that overlap and diverge: a joyride no matter whose strand you follow. 

With wall-to-wall-to-wall video installation, CITY STORIES is a surreal, gritty, sarcastic, self-aware, and poetic performance experience.

Join Ballet Univerze and Elitsa Zafirova for an online donation initiative in support of Ukraine humanitarian aid! Train online and 100% profits will be donated to various organizations - Red Cross Ukraine, Doctors Without Borders, and World Central Kitchen.

Sign up here

Schedule here

Re:Emergence
a dance festival to celebrate the return of live performance

Smashworks Dance presents an excerpt from DRENCHED at the Center Stage Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA.

It is exciting to finally be seeing some bright lights ahead after all these difficult months. We are excited to be welcoming back both performers and audiences and we thought it was a great time to celebrate.
4 unique line-ups including live and video performances by dancers from Santa Barbara and beyond in a wide variety of dance styles and genres. The Festival will include both live and video performances. The opening night of the festival is a collection of dance films, the following three programs will combine live and video performance.

Smashworks Dance in collaboration with David Tufino presents DRENCHED - an experimental dance film that explores humanity’s current as we wade through uncertainty and turbulence; with each piece exploring different themes of self-actualization through collective grief.  Experience this visceral and thought-provoking work, performed by Smashworks Dance with choreography and concept by Ashley McQueen in collaboration with the dancers.

This video will be live June 1-13, 2021.

Tickets Here

DRENCHED was filmed following COVID-19 safety protocols as directed by New York State. All dancers and production crew give their consent to set procedures.

A huge thank you to the dancers for their fearlessness and creative input, David for your talent and generosity, and our donor base for your unparalleled support. 

Originally presented by ANNONYArts in St. Louis, DRENCHED was later commissioned by Arova Contemporary Ballet in Birmingham, Alabama. Smashworks Dance is proud to present a reimagined version of this evening length work, featuring new choreography designed for the screen.

Photo by Tanya Garcia-Tufino*

Support Smashworks Dance Inc this Giving Tuesday, as we usher in our first fiscal year as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization! All donations are tax-deductible.

EVEN A SMALL RECURRING DONATION EACH MONTH CAN KEEP OUR ORGANIZATION RUNNING, AND OUR DANCERS SUPPORTED!

 MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION HERE

For as little as the price of one cup of coffee each month, you can help support the company’s artistic endeavors with appropriate safety measures. Together, we can harness the power of the performing arts as a solution to the challenges of this year, and we can emerge as a more empowered community. 

Please consider joining our community at any giving tier:

• Rebel Girl  |  $5 per month

  •  Company supply of hand sanitizer

• Smashworks Ambassador  |  $10 per month

  • One reusable face mask

• Prime Supporter  |  $25 per month

  • One hour of rehearsal space 

• Creative Partner  |  $50 per month

  • Teaching artist pay for one education workshop

• Champion  |  $150 per month

  • Cost of producing a video version of our work

• Producer  |  $230 per month

  • One full 2-hour rehearsal (space rental and dancer pay)

 MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION HERE!

Together, we make dance accessible and inspire our community to take action. Artistic expression is power—with your support we can achieve our goal to smash stereotypes and promote dance as a unifying and confidence-building practice. As we continue to evolve to confront new challenges, Smashworks remains focused on our mission statement, grounded in the notion of smashing boundaries of artistic expression. 

Other ways you can support:

• Set up a Facebook fundraiser for Smashworks Dance Inc. on your personal page -- all donations are tax-deductible

• Invite your friends to follow our social media pages, or spread the word!

• Select Smashworks Dance Inc. as your Amazon Smile charity! Be sure to save smile.amazon.com in your favorites, and shop from there.

Check out The Rosin Box’s Virtual Subscription, for an exclusive interview with Artistic Director Ashley McQueen and access to 2 original dance films featuring Smashworks Dance!

Episode #1

We are joined by Ashley McQueen, Artistic Director, Founder, and Choreographer for Smashworks Dance based out of NYC. Ashley, interviewed by Artistic Director Carly Topazio, discusses the in and outs of operating a newly found nonprofit art organization in the midst of the current global pandemic, and highlights two dance films from Smashworks, one of which stars our very own Managing Director, Thom Dancy!

Featured Dance Films:

   Unbounded - Originally created in 2015 as an excerpt from Smashworks' full performance, Drenched. McQueen and Smashworks Dance are sharing this particular film as they are in the process of restaging and reviving the full-length performance, with opportunities to view coming soon in 2021!

​

   Reclamation of The Flag - This film features an excerpt from "For Which It Stands", which premiered at Center For Performance Research - CPR Brooklyn. Commissioned by Dance The Vote STL in collaboration with the Missouri History Museum 2020. Smashworks Dance is an NYC based dance company that advocates for human rights through art activism. 

https://www.therosinboxproject.com/thevirtualbox

Smashworks Dance presents a slice of history in its encore VIRTUAL premiere of FOR WHICH IT STANDS, an evening length political work featuring original sound score and projection.

Available through November 3, 2020

Your ticket ($20.20) includes a link to our 40 min performance + time stamps and historical references for each “dance episode” + additional tools from Vote Forward to promote voter turnout!

A portion of ticket sales will be donated to When We All Vote - a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is on a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race & age voting gap & Greater Birmingham Ministries - a multi-faith, multi-racial organization that provides emergency services for people in need and engages in voter restoration in Alabama.

With only weeks until the 2020 presidential election, let us revisit this devilishly witty snapshot of history retooled for the virtual stage.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

We are thrilled to partner with DANCE THE VOTE STL & the Missouri History Museum this year to premiere an original dance film & most importantly PROMOTE VOTER REGISTRATION!

Episodes launch every Wednesday on Dance The Vote STL’s YouTube page.

We are thrilled to partner with Yap About It, a nonprofit organization dedicated to de-stigmatizing talk therapy by promoting free talk therapy, mentorship programs, and access to additional resources for young lives in need including therapy via the arts (music, dance & entertainment). Smashworks Dance will be teaching virtual dance classes twice a month for their youth!

FREE Online Ballet & Creative Movement Classes, every other Monday starting 9/21/20 @ 4:30pm on Instagram Live @therapyforyoungpeople

WE COLLABORATED WITH REBEL GIRLS ON A SERIES OF EMPOWERING ACTIVITIES FOR THEIR NEXT CHAPTER BOOK, ALICIA ALONSO TAKES THE STAGE!

ORDER HERE

In the words of the School Library Journal: “With this powerful, hope-filled story of overcoming one’s obstacles, readers will close this book and feel inspired to leave a legacy of their own”

Alicia Alonso was born to dance. Her first big role came when she was only ten years old, and she knew right then that she was going to be a ballerina one day. Only a few years later, she moved from Cuba to the United States to fulfill her dreams. As she danced, however, Alicia began to have trouble seeing. She was quickly going blind. How could a ballerina dance on stage if she couldn’t see where she was going? Alicia worried. But she wouldn’t let it stop her. With lots of practice, great dance partners, and a few on-stage tricks, Alicia found a way to keep doing what she loved: dancing all over the globe and as one of the world’s most beloved prima ballerinas.

In partnership with San Antonio Dance Fringe, “Ballet for Contemporary Dancers” with Ashley McQueen explores new ways of taking up space and reinventing old forms, while encouraging individuality within classical ballet technique.

August 5, 12, 19, 26 — 11:30am - 1:00pm EST

Please register for class here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItfuqorD8oGN0glSYhqIFKHsjpmsLQvqGy

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Suggested donation: $5/class

Venmo: @Smashworks-Dance
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SADanceFringe