Community Engagement

Weave performers on stage.

Weave


2018–2019

Weave and WEave:Here performances in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Birmingham (Alabama Dance Council), Atmore (Poarch Band of Creek Indians & the Alabama Dance Council), Philadelphia (Intercultural Journeys), and in Maui (Maui Arts & Cultural Center) were attended by over 6,000 audience participants. Community engagement activities included open rehearsals, community art sharing gatherings, dance workshops and master classes, a Native writers group, and discussions on Native contemporary performance.

For more information about the Weave project and community engagement visit rosysimasweave.com

Rosy Simas Danse with Mystic Wind Social Dance group and audience participants in Birmingham. Weave presentation by the Alabama Dance Council. January 2019.

Rosy Simas Danse performers Zoë Klein and Sam Aros Mitchell with students at the Poarch Creek Band of Indians Community Center, 2019.

Alabama Bicentennial/
Stories In Motion
2017-2018

Working with the Alabama Dance Council, Rosy Simas Danse performed over 20 times at schools, community centers, universities, and arts center throughout Alabama in an initiative to bring contemporary Native dance to audiences of all ages across Alabama.

Rosy Simas Danse performers Zoë Klein and Sam Aros Mitchell with students at the Poarch Creek Band of Indians Community Center, 2019.

Skin(s)
2016–2017

Skin(s) was a film project (Skin Frequencies), an exhibit, and a dance. The film project created by Elizabeth Day, Heid E. Erdrich and Rosy Simas, interviewed over 30 Indigenous people in California, Minnesota, Illinois to talk about the diversity of how Native people identify. The exhibit in Minneapolis (Intermedia Arts) featured the work of over 15 Native artists sharing work on the subject of identity. The dance was created to have a range of community performers at each city/venue. For each iteration of Skin(s), the Rosy Simas Danse performance team offered movement workshops and community discussions. Skin(s) was created in part during a residency in Pittsburgh (Kelly Strayhorn Alloy Studios), premiered in Minneapolis (Intermedia Arts), and toured to Duluth (American Indian Community Housing Org), Evanston (Northwestern University), Berkeley (LaPeña), Chicago (Chicago Cultural Center), and EastSide Arts Alliance (Oakland).

Rosy Simas Danse performers and Bay Area community performers in Skin(s) at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. 2017.