Afrobeats Dance Boston
Urbanity Dance is excited to announce a new partnership with Afrobeats Dance Boston, who will now officially share the home of Urbanity Headquarters at 1180 Washington Street, Suite 100, Boston, thanks to the generous grant support.
This partnership began when Afrobeats Dance Boston participated in Urbanity’s Artist in Residence program - a program rooted in Urbanity’s belief that no space should go unused and that by sharing resources, the Boston arts community grows stronger together. The Artist in Residence program goal is to foster partnerships between Urbanity and BIPOC-led collectives and artists across Boston, leveraging Urbanity’s institutional resources and position of privilege to support and uplift their work. Over the last 15 years, Urbanity has offered more than 1,000 hours of free and subsidized space to artists.
“By Afrobeats Dance Boston and Urbanity Dance sharing a dance home it provides a beautiful model for other arts organizations. Neither of us needed the space 100% of the time and neither of us could afford the space alone. By sharing the resource but also the expense, we are both able to keep this studio as our primary dance home despite rising rents and operating expenses. The dance community is more vibrant, and the local community has more stylistic and cultural choices for dance study, because we have two dance organizations . I am so grateful for our continued partnership, and to see what the future holds for this model of creating. I hope this model could serve as a creative solution for other types of organizations or businesses feeling like they can no longer meet the exorbitant expenses of commercial real estate." - Betsi Graves, Urbanity Founder/Director
About Afrobeats Dance Boston
Founded in 2017, Afrobeats Dance Boston is a dance company that focuses on Contemporary African music (African Pop Music). Afrobeats is a catch-all term created by a DJ from the United Kingdom but reflects a current Pan African spirit and movement towards Africa.
We were created from this very spirit and our name represents the momentum and energy of the community.
Afrobeats is infused with both the music and dance of Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Senegal, Black America, and so many other regions of the diaspora. Afrobeats as a genre radiates throughout our people.
Afrobeats Dance Boston holds regularly scheduled dance classes, hosts guest instructors from around the world and hosts an Afrobeats party. We have classes for beginners (all levels!) and an internal unit prepared for different event and performance inquiries. Classes involve learning technical skills and fundamental movement. Our focus is learning, teaching, and performing Afrobeats dance styles as we connect ourselves to the spirit of Africa, and the joy that comes from it. We also develop and build core strength, stamina, rhythmic sensibility, and most importantly build community.We build community and communal fun in a way that is accessible to the people.
Afrobeats Dance Boston’s Services:
Community Classes: During this 2-hour session, you'll engage in a warm-up and cardio-intensive movements drawn from a variety of dance traditions.
Event Performances: Hire Our Company to perform at your next event such as birthday parties, showers and weddings.
Guest Instructors: These super charged classes are led by well-known national and international Afrobeats artists right here in Boston!