Sunday, December 22, 2013

Top 10 Moments of 2013

Luminarium has had an incredibly successful third full season in Boston, and we are so thankful to our fans, followers, supporters, collaborators, and (most importantly) our ridiculously talented dancers for making that success a reality. Enjoy a glimpse at the year in review, as we put forward our top ten moments of 2013... so hard to choose!


10. Being praised as "unsung heros" in the Boston arts scene, with Luminarium featured as one of ten "stellar organizations that may have slipped under your radar" by the Improper Bostonian magazine.

Luminarium Directors Merli V. Guerra & Kimberleigh A. Holman. Photos:
Julia E. Wagner, Russell Holman, respectively.

9.  Receiving a grant from the Lowell Cultural Council to create the Threading Motion Project, with the resulting film series then traveling to San Jose, California. Luminarium's West Coast debut!


Luminarium Company Member Katie McGrail in Guerra's Quilt Vignettes
Film Series, Threading Motion Project. Photo: Merli V. Guerra



8. Luminarium's 2013 Arts Enrichment Community Outreach Project with South Boston Community Health Center/Young at Arts (and the South Boston Boys & Girls Club) was sensational. These kids did a fantastic job! Fair to say we learned just as much from teaching them, as they did from us. Many thanks to this wonderful organization.


Luminarium Company Member Jess Chang and the students of Young at
Arts surprise Merli and Kim with a choreographed hip hop routine they'd
secretly put together while the directors were in tech... Wow!

7. We made it out of the terrible twos... Luminarium's Year Three Gala & Showcase in June marked the company's third anniversary since its founding in 2010. Amazing to mark how far the company has come in such a short amount of time.


We turned 3 this year!

6. This year's ChoreoFest kicked ass. Truly. This year's participants continued to set the bar high! And the best part is, the conversation didn't end in August--It's been so rewarding to watch new friendships and artistic partnerships unfold after our 24-hour festival ended. Keep it up, friends!


Paradise Lost takes full advantage of the time, space, and caffeine-high
provided through Luminarium's 24-Hour ChoreoFest, 2013.
Photo: Ryan Carollo

5. Working with Fine Art Photographer Larry Pratt, integrating dance, light, and text in a series of absolutely stunning photos...

l. to r. Luminarium Company Members Jess Jacob, Amy Mastrangelo,
Elena Greenspan. Photo: Larry Pratt


4. Festivals! Whether dancing in a garden, on an outdoor stage, performing alongside other local companies in Monkeyhouse's Against the Odds Festival, or joined by a flutist in a cemetery, Luminarium had a blast performing in six new and established Boston festivals this season.



l. to r. Luminarium Company Member Amy Mastrangelo, with musical
collaborators Jenn Allen and Christos Zevos at COGdesign's Spring 
Garden Festival, 2013. Photo: Laurene Allen.

3. We launched our new website! And not a moment too soon. Our new site is sleek, fun, easy to navigate, and best of all can be viewed on your plethora of mobile devices. Woo!


"Hey, Kim, I made you something..."
"I just saw you three hours ago... What could you possibly make??"

2. Performing our work alongside Time Lapse Dance at the prestigious Fine Arts Center Concert Hall (Amherst MA), whose 2013–14 dance series featured Luminarium, Time Lapse Dance, Kyle Abraham, Parsons Dance, and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. How honored were we to appear in the same season as these choreographic greats? Pretty (incredibly) honored!

l. to r. Luminarium Company Members Katie McGrail,
Jennifer Roberts, Melenie Diarbekirian. Fine Arts Center
Concert Hall. Photo: Merli V. Guerra

1. Kind words... We've certainly gotten plenty of encouraging and shiny press this season, from Improper Bostonian magazine to the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, and from rave reviews to surprise video interviews, but by far, the kindest words spoken (that now appear on the backs of our sweet new Luminarium tote bags) came from Beverly Creasey of the Boston Arts Review: "It's no secret that LUMINARIUM DANCE COMPANY is one of the most intelligent and innovative dance troupes in Boston." And we promise to continue living up to these big words of confidence as we head into our FOURTH full season in Boston!

Mount Holyoke Quarterly Newsletter, November 2013.

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