Boston Dance Theater

Under the co-artistic direction of Jessie Jeanne Stinnett and award winning, Dutch Israeli, choreographer Itzik Galili, Boston Dance Theater is Boston’s first contemporary dance repertory company with international leadership. With a commitment to presenting works of socio-political relevance, Boston Dance Theater matches the talents of Boston-based dancers with acclaimed global choreographers broadening its scope of contemporary dance.

Named to the Top 25 to Watch list in 2021 for its innovative work The Carol Kaye Project, chief editor Jennifer Stahl writes, “By consistently making these kinds of savvy curatorial choices—add pulling them off with finesse—BDT’s quickly grown into a company with appeal far beyond Boston’s city limits.”

Jessie Jeanne Stinnett is a Climate Reality Leader trained by former US Vice President Al Gore as well as a dancer, and choreographer. She received a BFA in Dance Performance from The Boston Conservatory and an MFA in Creative Practice: Dance Professional Pathway from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, in conjunction with Independent Dance/Siobhan Davies Dance. Most notably Jessie has performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Tate Britain (UK), Prometheus Dance, Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna), The Boston Baroque Opera, and Bard College’s SummerScape Festival. 

Her choreographic work was described by Hannah Chanatry of WBUR as “conceptually driven performance that unpacks the complexities of being female, and pushes the academic boundaries of choreography.” Her work has been supported by The MAP Fund, with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mellon Foundation, NH State Council for the Arts, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and The Boston Foundation with support from The Barr Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Assets4Artists at MASS MoCA, and Fidelity Charitable. 

Co-Artistic Itzik Galili is an Israeli choreographer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up, Israel's “most prestigious and sought-after platform for independent Israeli choreographers” founded and supported by the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport (The Jerusalem Post). Galili is the only choreographer in the world to have worked with all of the major contemporary dance companies based in Israel as a dancer, choreographer, and mentor. After having been member of the Batsheva Dance Company and Bat-Dor Dance Company, his credits include Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Vertigo Dance Company, Inbal Pinto & Avshalom

Pollack, and Yasmeen Godder Dance. 

Galili holds a knighthood for his contributions to Dutch arts and culture. During his time in the Netherlands, Galili initiated five successful organizations, each with a unique approach to dance making, education, and performance including Project Sally, Club Guy & Roni, NND/Galili Dance, and Dansgroep Amsterdam with Hungarian choreographer Kristina de Chatel.

He was awarded the originality prize at the Gvanim Choreographic Competition in 1991 for “Old Cartoon”. In 1992, he won the Public Prize at the International Competition for Choreographers in Groningen with his creation “The Butterfly Effect” and was honored in 1994 with the final Selection Culture Award (Phillip Morris) for exceptional talent. He has produced more than 60 works and has created for and worked with international companies such as: Bale da Cidade de São Paulo, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Batsheva Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Cisne Negro, Diversions Dance Company, Dutch National Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nederlands Dans Theater II, Norrdans, Royal Finnish Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Scapino Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. 

 CAROL KAYE PROJECT is a collection of fun, short dance works that celebrate seminal bass guitarist Carol Kaye. Since the early 1960s Kaye has played on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions, with everyone from The Beach Boys to Marvin Gaye, yet she remains relatively unknown. Choreographers Karole Armitage, Rena Butler, Rosie Herrera, and Jessie Jeanne Stinnett honor Kaye’s genius and extensive musical repertoire with work that is sweaty, whimsical, and thoughtful. The show includes exclusive interviews from prominent electric bassists, highlighting the breadth of Carol’s influence on an entire generation of musicians and music lovers.

MEMORIES & OTHER DYNAMIC WORKS is a 90-minute tour de force of the company’s most athletic hits including Man of the Hour and Memories by Itzik Galili, I had a thought by LA-based choreographer Micaela Taylor, Today for Now by Chinese-born Yin Yue, On the Verge by Shannon Gillen, and Peekaboo by German choreographer Marco Goecke (Resident Choreographer for Netherlands Dance Theater).

SURGE intertwines dance, science, and climate activism. Audience members mingle with performers to witness, reflect, and converse about the climate crisis, current sea level rise science, and coastal impacts to come. Led by choreographer Jessie Jeanne Stinnett and ocean scientist Dr. Larry Pratt (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), SURGE provides a platform for conversation and collective processing of the existential threats posed by climate change. SURGE can be presented as a stand-alone performance or it can be accompanied by the SURGE Fellowship, a residency program designed for BIPOC artists living in communities that have been most impacted by sea level rise. This program is especially suited to be performed outside.

MASTER WORKS: GALILI & GOECKE features the work of two of the most extraordinary choreographers of the 21st century. Itzik Galili (The Netherlands, Israel) and Marco Goecke (Germany). 

Man of the Hour, Memories, and Chameleon by Galili “explode through [the dancers] physicality.” Goecke’s Peekaboo is a playful conclusion “is a fun piece for BDT’s accomplished dancers and a fun end to the evening.” (The Boston Globe)

STRONG WOMEN OF TODAY
Jessie Jeanne Stinnett (Founder, Co-Director) describes Strong Women as, “A playlist of some of the hottest female choreographers in the US today that should get played on repeat!” Boston Dance Theater is deeply committed to amplifying the voices of strong female choreographers of color. Strong Women is an evening of short works that the company commissioned from: Sidra Bell (African-American), Rena Butler (African-American), Rosie Herrera (Cuban-American), Micaela Taylor (African-American), and Yin Yue (Chinese-American).