Next Steps for Boston Dance

05/08/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

CARVEN BERNADEAU (she/her/hers) is a Boston-based dancer, choreographer, and arts educator whose movement journey began at five years old. Trained in Haitian folklore, hip-hop, and Afro dance, she has honed her craft in both Boston and New York, developing a style rooted in culture, rhythm, and community. As a member of Trend N Motion, Carven contributes to the group’s identity by blending her artistic knowledge with a deep passion for teaching, mentorship, and youth development. Carven co-produced "Animal Dance Kingdom" alongside Trend N Motion—an interactive production designed to inspire physical wellness and cognitive growth. The production leverages the arts as a powerful tool for child development, fostering imagination, coordination, and confidence in young audiences. Today, as Chief Operating Officer of Nursery Groove Network, Carven continues to champion innovative programming that engages young learners, promotes active lifestyles, and empowers the next generation through creative expression.

More about Carven: nurserygroove.com; facebook.com/carven.bernadeau

05/04/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

PRISCILLA COLON (she/her/hers), originally from the Bronx, NYC, is a Puerto Rican choreographer, teaching artist, and culture bearer committed to uplifting dance traditions rooted in the Afro-Latinx Diaspora. Her performance journey began as a personal quest to honor her heritage through folkloric forms such as Bomba y Plena, Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, and Hip Hop, later expanding into Latin Fusion Heels. Over the past decade, she has served as a culture bearer in Massachusetts, using storytelling, education, and community-based events that bring cultural dance traditions to learners of all ages. Priscilla founded The Diaspora Dance Collective, LLC to unite culture bearers across the Diaspora and create spaces where culture, artistry, and community come together. Today, the Collective produces performances, immersive experiences, and school programs that celebrate and sustain the living traditions shaping our global movement landscape.

More about Priscilla: https://mosaicmovement.my.canva.site;

04/27/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

NINO DE LOS REYES (h​​e/him/his) is the first dancer in history to be recognized with a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for "Antidote," a collaboration with music legend Chick Corea. In 2010, Nino won three awards in the “Certamen de coreografía de danza española y flamenco de Madrid” competition for his spectacle "Origen": first place for solo choreography; flamenco young promise; and best musical composition composed by Paco Cruz. Nino has created five unique spectacles: "Origen," "Inside," "Tierra," "Uno Más de la Banda," and "Vuelta al Sol." He is currently part of the faculty at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

More about Nino:

04/17/2026

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Email from The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) Seven Greater Boston Dance and Circus Artists Selected as 2026 Next Steps for Boston Dance Grantees Learn More About the Recipients Congratulations to the

04/15/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

LAILA J. FRANKLIN (she/they) is a multidisciplinary dance artist, practicing performance, teaching, administration, somatic bodywork, and guerilla archiving. Featured in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2024), her practice extends from lineages of traditional and experimental Black, q***r dance makers, exploring the collision of postmodernism and story ballet. Laila has been commissioned by Brown University, Salem State University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Urbanity, and presented thorough Movement Research at The Judson Church, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, Motion State Arts, School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, and Sideways Door Festival. Laila has been a performer in projects with Miguel Gutierrez, Dr. Christopher-Rasheem McMillan, Melinda Jean Myers, Stephanie Miracle, Ruckus Dance, and detritus dance. Laila holds an MFA from the University of Iowa, a BFA from The Boston Conservatory, and is a proud alumna of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

More about Laila: lailajfranklin.com .frank

04/13/2026

Great to gather with 5 of the 7 2026 Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients for their first cohort get-together! We get the feeling that this super-creative and motivated group is really going places, and we can't wait to help.

Pictured, L to R: Nino de los Reyes; Priscilla Colon; Carmen Rizzo; Miranda Lawson; Carven Bernadeau (not pictured: Laila J. Franklin; Joy Powers).









The Boston Foundation

04/06/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

MIRANDA LAWSON (she/her/hers) is a Boston-based performer, choreographer, and educator whose work lives at the meeting point of contemporary and Hip Hop dance forms. She received her BA in Dance and Psychology from Mount Holyoke College in 2022, where she was recognized with awards in choreographic excellence and leadership through social justice work. She has performed in works by Shakia Barron, Shura Baryshnikov, Betsi Graves, Chloe London, and Jenna Riegel. She is currently performing with NunweilerTanz and Eliza Malecki Dance. Her own work has been presented at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought (Northampton, MA), the Multicultural Arts Center (Cambridge, MA), Tufts University (Medford, MA), and The Dance Complex (Cambridge, MA). Miranda was a mentee of MIDDAY Movement’s BIPOC Professional Dancer Mentorship program from 2022–23, an Urbanity X resident in 2022, and the recipient of Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Pandemic Relief Grant and the Somerville Artists Fellowship both in 2023.

More about MIranda: mirandalawsondance.com facebook.com/miranda.lawson.5667

03/31/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

JOY POWERS (she/her/hers) began clowning at a young age with Circus Smirkus, and has since gone on to tour the country with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, Cirque Us, and Hideaway Circus. She has also performed internationally with Theatre a Tempo, Si le Colibri, and will soon be joining the cast of Revel Pucks Circus in the UK. She co-created and starred in the Piccolini Trio’s "Circus in a Trunk," and Theater in the Open’s "Petrushka and the Caterpillar." She is also a healthcare clown year-round with the Laughter League, proudly serving Boston Children’s and Hasbro Children’s hospitals. Joy joined forces with her creative and life partner Aaron Dewitt in 2022, and together they created their own tiny touring theatrical circus show, "To the Moon and Back!"

More about Joy: https://www.joyandaaron.com/ https://www.facebook.com/joy.s.powers

03/25/2026

🌟 Get to know the new Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients! 🌟

CARMEN S. RIZZO (she/her/hers), from São Paulo, Brazil, is a Somerville-based dance artist, educator, fitness instructor, social media manager and administrator. She completed the eight-year professional training program at Escola de Dança de São Paulo and graduated from Manhattanville University (Dance and Business) summa cm laude. Her choreography has recently been performed at her evening-length productions, NACHMO, Boston WiP, Dance for World Community, Salem Arts Festival, Roots & Routes, WeCreate, LabWorks and ArtBeat.

Carmen was also a guest choreographer at her alma mater and has had her dance films featured at Homegrown, Shut in Dance Festival, and the DFA College Exchange. Exploring the neuroscience of dance and of emotion, she choreographs collaboratively, showcasing dancers’ abilities and expressive voices, bridging the gap between science and art. Debunking that science and dance are hard to understand, Carmen brings diversity into concert dance, making it more relatable and accessible.

More about Carmen: https://csrizzo22.wixsite.com/carmen-rizzo; .rizzo.dance facebook.com/carmen.rizzo.798

03/18/2026

Announcing the 2026 Next Steps for Boston Dance recipients!

🌟 Carven Bernadeau 🌟 Priscilla Colon 🌟 Nino de los Reyes 🌟 Laila J. Franklin 🌟 Miranda Lawson 🌟 Joy Powers 🌟 Carmen S. Rizzo 🌟

Congratulations to all! This diverse group of emerging and established dance-makers create works in a variety of genres including ballet, circus, contemporary, flamenco, hip-hop, Latin, postmodern and beyond.

They'll each receive subsidized rehearsal space; consultations with expert advisors on both artistic and administrative issues; flexible funds to create or complete a new artwork or take a “next step” in their work or career (e.g., build a new website; hire a fundraising expert); a supportive cohort that shares and learns from each other; and access to ongoing support that continues beyond the grant period. Next Steps is designed to boost artists’ careers in ways as unique as each of these dance-makers.

We can't wait to see what they do!

Now in its ninth year, and with a mission to strengthen the field of dance in Greater Boston, Next Steps for Boston Dance provides multi-layered support for Greater Boston’s choreographers and circus artists creating original work in any dance genre to move forward in their careers.

Read more about the recipients and Next Steps for Boston Dance: https://tpi.org/next-steps-for-boston-dance/









The Boston Foundation