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Welcome to Amplify & Ignite 2025

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Emerson College:
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Sustainability Invitation
Emerson Sustainability is currently preparing for the annual Campus Race to Zero Waste competition that runs from February through the end of March. It’s a friendly competition between universities in North America to reduce waste on campuses and raise awareness about waste-related behaviors. In celebration of Campus Race to Zero Waste, we are participating in the Green Event Certification program and we hope you will join us in this challenge. In advance of your travel to Boston, we encourage you to bring a reusable water bottle and/or hot thermos and utensils to reduce the need for single use products.
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Re/Sourcing Memory: An Embodiment Practice
Friday March 21, 2025 4:00pm - 5:15pm EDT
Black Box
Session Evaluation
Choreographing the Headwrap
Presenter: Joya Powell

Movement of the People Dance Company's Hair Ties is a multidisciplinary piece inspired by America's fear of Black power and beauty. Inspired by the innovative ways Black and Brown women ad(dressed) the Tignon Laws of the 1700s, which made it illegal for for them to have their hair uncovered in public in Louisiana, this evocative work is a celebration of Black beauty, creativity, and ingenuity in the face of perpetual oppression. In our workshop, participants witness the similarities between place and cultures through the pathways the arms take, the knots, folds and twists of fabric. In a circle, we start by introducing ourselves, and facilitate a name game with the prompt - how did you do your hair this morning? MOPDC shares the story behind our choreography Hair Ties, its connection to the Tignon Laws and reference to US Crown Act 2022. We lead everyone in a short warm-up garnered by vocabulary from Hair Ties. We ask participants about their references to headwraps, or covering their hair. MOPDC teaches our favorite headwrap styles, with participants doing them with us. We go around the circle, participants each share their own favorite style, teach it, and share their memories - where did you learn it, from who. We learn with the fabrics and then we collectively figure out the gestures that are created without the fabric, linking each person's movements together to create choreography and end by learning the MOPDC Shuffle. As a close out we share gems from the workshop and MOPDC's ritual of breathe and leave.

**Note: Please be prepared with a head scarf if you have one.**Designing Belonging: Somatic Scores for Reflection and Connection
Presenter: Jessica Roseman

This workshop investigates design principles for choreographed somatic scores that foster self-awareness and belonging. Grounded in my somatic research project, Nourish, this approach integrates personal reflection with responsive movement practices to promote agency through embodied themes such as breath, attention, and imagination. Drawing on expertise in Feldenkrais and GYROTONIC Methods, therapeutic massage, and Deborah Hay-inspired interdisciplinary contemporary choreography, I design culturally and abilities-inclusive scores that honor diverse individual needs. At Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge, MA, I engage in an autoethnographic process to design, document, and playtest Nourish scores. Participants in this workshop will engage in a series of guided movement explorations and then reflect through writing exit tickets, generating speculative insights into choreographic composition and somatic practice. Building on Haraes' participatory somesthetic design principles, this research explores choreographic composition as a site for relational engagement, offering adaptable frameworks for inclusive somatic practices. The workshop invites reflection on how embodied movement can foster belonging and contribute to personal and social transformation in contemporary choreography. 
Speakers
JR

Jessica Roseman

Jessica Roseman (she/her) choreographs, teaches, and researches how movement fosters self-awareness and attunement to the environment and others. A mother and PhD student in Interdisciplinary Design and Media at Northeastern University, she founded Nourish, a somatic practice grounded... Read More →
JP

Joya Powell

A multiethnic Harlemite, Joya Powell (she/her) is a Bessie Award winning choreographer and educator passionate about community, activism, and dances of the African Diaspora. Throughout her career she has danced with choreographers such as Paloma McGregor, Nicole Stanton, and Katiti... Read More →
Friday March 21, 2025 4:00pm - 5:15pm EDT
Black Box
  Workshops/Discussions

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