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Queer Bodies in Motion’s

Alice in Rainbowland

Virtually OBERON

Tickets

$15
Pay-what-you-can option

  • Run Time

    36 minutes

  • Tickets

    $15
    Pay-what-you-can option

Learn more:

This event has passed

Stream Alice in Rainbowland on demand anytime through June 30. Purchase a household ticket for access to the event until June 30 at 11:59PM ET.

Queer Bodies in Motion is a dance project aiming to build awareness of LGBTQ discrimination and celebrate queer identity. Its debut artistic endeavor, Alice in Rainbowland, is a re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland told through dance, music, and LGBTQ pride. This collaborative show is devised by and highlights queer artists and allies—including dancers, musicians, and the creative community from Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. This is dedicated to queer youth and community, for the courage to show up.

Virtual Premiere Celebration
Join us on June 10 at 7:30PM ET to celebrate the virtual premiere of Alice in Rainbowland! Enjoy a DJ dance party, hear from the creative team, and stay on after for a short documentary on the making of the show.

A Production By Ana Masacote

Notable dates

Virtual Premiere Celebration: 6/10 at 7:30PM ET
On Demand Thru: 6/30

Sponsors
The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston Grant
Virtually OBERON
Cambridge Arts
Burju Shoes
Boston Dance Alliance
Snatched Entertainment
Dance to Power

Press Coverage

Lilly Rose Valore as Alice with a transgender pride-themed hand fan.

As Alice travels through Rainbowland, she stumbles upon scenes where its inhabitants demonstrate that whoever you are or whoever you love, you are always worthy of respect and acceptance. The show is specifically geared toward families.

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Nadia Issa as Absolem in an alleyway.

[Producer and Creative Director Ana Masacote says] the work allowed the artists to ask: “What does a Rainbowland for us look like? What does a world of gender-free expression, a world welcoming of identity look like?”

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Lilly Rose Valore as Alice reading the picture book It Feels Good to Be Yourself.

“This production and Pride Month are important because we really need to get to a place where everyone can coexist together,” says dancer, model, and Trans activist Lilly Rose Valore. “I hope [‘Alice in Rainbowland’] will keep the conversation going with our allies.”

Read full article

Credits

Creative Team

Producer, Creative Director

Ana Masacote

Ana Masacote

Producer, Creative Director

Ana Masacote

Ana Masacote (she/her/hers) is an award-winning Afro-Latin dance specialist and arts leader who passionately believes that through dance, we can facilitate social change within communities. She has spread the salsa bug to more than 30 countries across five continents as founder of Dance to Power, an online Afro-Latin dance academy, and former partner of internationally-renowned Masacote Entertainment. Through her social impact initiatives, Ana advocates for gender and LGBTQ inclusivity and racial equity in the arts and was most recently named a 2020/21 Kennedy Citizens Fellow, the 2019 YWCA Cambridge Woman of the Year, and a 2019 WBUR Artery 25 honoree. Ana holds a Bachelor’s in Management Science from MIT in Cambridge.

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Production Manager

Madison Lusby

Madison Lusby

Production Manager

Madison Lusby

Madison (they/them) is a New York City-based producer and coordinator. They have a passion for creating work at the intersection of storytelling, accessible art, and live entertainment. In their 7+ years in the industry they’ve managed projects for companies such as Boston Ballet, Yo Soy LOLA, Nike, Twitter, ProductionGlue, Now & There, and more. BFA from Boston University in Theatre Management. In their spare time you’ll find Madison on outdoor adventures with their pup, getting back to their Pacific Northwest roots.

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Shoe Designer

Burju Perez

Shoe Designer

Burju Perez

Burju Perez is the founder and CEO of Burju Shoes, an online dance and fashion shoe store, worn by such artists as Jennifer Lopez, Normani, Christina Aguilera, and Cardi B. Her passion and creativity come from her experience of touring the world for fifteen years as a professional salsa instructor and performer. Wearing high heels for extremely long periods and having an obsession with fashion drove her to want more from her footwear and founding Burju Shoes. All dance shoes in the production have been custom designed by Burju Shoes.

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Stage Manager

Andrea Sala

Andrea Sofia Sala

Stage Manager

Andrea Sala

Andrea Sofia Sala (she/her/hers) was born in San Antonio, Texas, but grew up in Northern Mexico. During her high school years, she was heavily involved with the dance/theater world and went on to earn a BFA in Lighting Design and minor in Engineering Sciences, specializing in Electrical Engineering, from Boston University in 2020. Since she could never truly stay away from the dance world, Andrea has worked at Jacob’s Pillow and with BU Dance Theatre as well as found time to work with local Boston artists as both a dancer and a designer. During COVID times, Andrea has dipped into the world of Production Management, acquiring a job as the Production Administrator at the Fisher Center at Bard College.

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Lighting Designer

Justin Paice

Lighting Designer

Justin Paice

A.R.T.: Alice in Rainbowland, The Conjurors’ Club (Digital Systems Programming), The Triad (Video Projections), Black Light, Greater Good, Clairvoyance, Endlings (Associate Lighting Designer), and Wig Out!.

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Video Production

The Loop Lab

Video Production

The Loop Lab

The Loop Lab is a BIPOC-led nonprofit social enterprise specializing in media arts internships and digital storytelling whose mission is to empower Womxn and People of Color in the media arts to develop careers in audio/video through job training and job placement. As a multi-racial organization, they are committed to ending inequality and racism through digital storytelling.

Cast

Nadia Issa

Absolem

Nadia Issa

Nadia Issa

Absolem

Nadia Issa

Nadia Issa (they/them/theirs) is a second-year Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School, focusing on the African and African American Religious Studies Area of Focus, graduating in 2022. At HDS, they continue their work on Spiritual Reparations in Regla de Ocha-Ifá, Candomblé, and other Black Caribbean Diasporic spiritual-religious traditions, and continuing research on Black Cuban Womxn Akpwón/Apwanlás. Nadia spent over three years in Cuba and México pursuing fieldwork and dance study for both research projects that take form as Auto-Ethnographies and dance choreographies expanding reparation politics and politics of being an Akpwón in Cuba and its diaspora. Nadia is a Company Dancer with Jean Appolon Expressions. Nadia recognizes that dance is an embodied tool of ritual and revolution in their research and training. Through dance and ethnographic research, Nadia has been able to navigate and communicate spirit, Blackness, queerness, environmental and religious racism, and sacred landscapes.

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Lilly Rose Valore
Lilly Rose Valore

Alice

Lilly Rose Valore

Lilly Rose Valore (she/her/hers) is a Dancer/Model/Trans Activist from Boston, MA. She is a Program Assistant at Futures Without Violence, which is a non-profit organization working to end domestic violence for women and children. Her work for Black Trans Lives has led her to become an artist/activist. Lilly has always had an interest in developing the lives of marginalized groups specifically within the city of Boston and often speaks on LGBTQ+ awareness panels, teaches vogue classes and history, and performs at LGBTQ fundraising events. Lilly weaves queer symbolism into her art and has been telling her story through photo, film, and dance in order to use her social media platforms as a way to reach out to a wider demographic. She touches on topics such as racial injustices, uplifting marginalized groups, and representation for Trans Women of Color.

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Tina Cavicchio

Cheshire Cat

Tina Cavicchio

Tina Cavicchio

Cheshire Cat

Tina Cavicchio

Tina Cavicchio or T (she/her/they/them) is an international dance artist and founder/director of Next Level Fusion Dance Company. T got her start early in life, training in jazz and ballroom. She continued her studies into the Latin dance community with salsa and bachata as well as contemporary, Afro-Cuban, ballet, waacking, and hip hop. T is known for her creative fusion choreography and inspiring story telling through her dance. As a queer female lead, follow, and solo dancer, T has become a major advocate for individual empowerment and expression. T’s goals as a teacher is to challenge her students to walk through fear, helping them to tell their story on stage, and to empower others along the way. Each day inspires her to push the limits of Latin dance in her choreography while also paying respects to the history and roots of those dances.

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Gabriel Colon-Sciabarrasi
Gabriel Colon-Sciabarrasi

Dance Cobbler

Gabriel Colon-Sciabarrasi

Gabriel (he/him/his) is proud to identify as a gay, Puerto Rican, dog dad who loves to dance, cook, and enjoy adventures with loved ones. Graduating from Northeastern University in 2014, he has worked for Boston Beer Company for over 8 years. Throughout his time in Boston, Gabriel has been an active member and leader in the Boston Dance Community. Gabriel has had the opportunity to dance with and choreograph for many dance teams, but his favorite had to be QWAM, an all-male dance family in support of promoting inclusivity and self-empowerment in one’s own identity. He co-founded QWAM in 2016 and has led the group’s growth for the past five years.

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Yyoyo Escada

Oracle

Yyoyo Escada

Yyoyo Escada

Oracle

Yyoyo Escada

Yyoyo Escada (she/her/hers) is a member of the House of Escada, or Iconic House of Escada, a ballroom house based in Boston, originally known as the House of Evangelista and founded by father Tony Escada. House of Escada appeared in the first season of the HBO Max original reality-competition series “Legendary,” taking home third place. In order to be in the House of Escada, members explain you must be able to bear the weight of a crown.

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Mori Granot-Sanchez
Mori Granot-Sanchez

Partner

Mori Granot-Sanchez

Mori Granot-Sanchez (she/her/hers), based in Rhode Island, is the founder and director of Rhode Island Latin Dance, a dance school she started in 2012. In 2017 she launched her professional dance team, RILD-Synergy. Through her community work, Mori teaches weekly salsa classes at the Brown University Salsa Club and directs their performance team Alma Salsera. She also runs various after school dance programs and art credit-eligible dance classes for inner-city youth in high schools throughout the state. Mori began dancing at the age of five in Haifa, Israel, delving into Israeli folk, jazz, modern, and ballet. She began dancing salsa at age seventeen. Her travels led her to the US in 2006, where she would later pursue her love of salsa and embark on her professional dance career. Mori focuses on salsa as a teaching tool for self-development and to further inclusivity.

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Zayra Pola

Polita

Zayra Pola

Zayra Pola

Polita

Zayra Pola

Zayra Pola (she/her/hers) is a Puerto Rican American singer and percussionist. She was named “Pola” by a professor in honor of her grandfather Polo Ocasio, a well known folkloric Puerto Rican guitar player. Labeled by fans as “La Reina del Timbal” (The Queen of Timbales) since her outstanding performance in the 2009 Salsa Festival Honoring a La Fania, Zayra graduated with a full scholarship and Dean’s List recognition from Berklee College of Music. She received the 2015 Best Timbales Player of the Year Award from the New England Salsa Music Awards and the 2017 Salsa Singer of the Year Award from Latin Boston USA. In 2016, Zayra launched 3NITY, the first female Latin music band in the Boston area, which strives to empower female talent in a male-dominated industry. She has released two singles and is currently producing her first album, scheduled for release May 2022.

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SaSí

Queen

SaSí

SaSí

Queen

SaSí

“SaSí” Marcelino, is a multi-discipline performing artist and educator with a passion for investigation. Born in the Caribbean, raised in Boston, SaSí brings an innovative lens to her artistic perspective. SaSí draws from her experience and evolution as a daughter of the Afro-Indigenous Diaspora. With over twenty-five years of performance experience, SaSí tours as an actress, vocalist, dancer, and percussionist.

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Just JP

White Flower

Just JP

Just JP

White Flower

Just JP

From El Salvador via Cambridge, MA, it’s Just JP! They use any pronouns, please mix them up! He appreciates it. They love makeup, editing videos, fighting oppression, and eating pupusas. Just JP was the winner of the first cycle of Worcester Drag Wars in 2018, and since then she has been a staple in the New England drag scene. She has performed on the stages of Boston Pride, Worcester Pride, NOHO Pride, and Providence Pride, as well as weekly in-person shows (pre-covid), and currently producing tons of digital content through twitch.tv/TheServeNetwork. Their monthly show “First Impression” is every second Friday at 8PM ET. They are the Assistant Producer of “Full Spin”, every second and fourth Tuesdays at twitch.tv/MajentaWithAJ. Follow Just JP on all social media at @dragqueenjp.

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Ana Masacote

White Rabbit

Ana Masacote

Ana Masacote

White Rabbit

Ana Masacote

Ana Masacote (she/her/hers) is an award-winning Afro-Latin dance specialist and arts leader who passionately believes that through dance, we can facilitate social change within communities. She has spread the salsa bug to more than 30 countries across five continents as founder of Dance to Power, an online Afro-Latin dance academy, and former partner of internationally-renowned Masacote Entertainment. Through her social impact initiatives, Ana advocates for gender and LGBTQ inclusivity and racial equity in the arts and was most recently named a 2020/21 Kennedy Citizens Fellow, the 2019 YWCA Cambridge Woman of the Year, and a 2019 WBUR Artery 25 honoree. Ana holds a Bachelor’s in Management Science from MIT in Cambridge.

View full biography

Additional Team

Events Manager

Lauren Cameron

Lauren Cameron

Events Manager

Lauren Cameron

Lauren Cameron (she/her/hers) is an event planning professional with twelve years of corporate and nightlife hospitality experience. Originally born and raised in Jamaica, Lauren earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Marketing at the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School. Lauren’s love for events started at the tender age of four while accompanying her mother, an events professional, to onsite visits. In 1999, Lauren started Snatched Entertainment (Seeking New Atmospheres To Create Highly Engaging Diverse Entertainment), an events company that focuses on providing a safe space for members of the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities while providing a platform for Womxn artists, performers, DJs, and creatives to showcase their talent.

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Graphics & Logo Designer

Sarah Boess

Sarah Boess

Graphics & Logo Designer

Sarah Boess

Sarah Boess (she/her) is a visual and theater artist passionate about creating accessible art that uplifts diverse stories. As a Queer director and producer, Sarah aims to challenge narrow perspectives on gender and sexuality by continually bringing visibility to femme and genderfluid experiences. As a graphic and web designer, Sarah is most passionate about creating content that expands the reach of non-profit organizations and artists. Sarah is the artistic director of Sanguine Theatre Company, a Brooklyn-based new play laboratory, and the co-founder of Tredyffrin Performing Arts Camp, a non-profit community program aiming to connect children in the Philadelphia area to affordable arts education in a safe social environment.

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Jacket Costume Graphic Art

Debra Rosenberg

Debra Rosenberg

Jacket Costume Graphic Art

Debra Rosenberg

Debra Rosenberg (she/her/hers) is an indigenous artist based out of the Metrowest area. She worked as a sign artist for Trader Joe’s and studied art at Framingham State. She’s a product of two queer mothers. Her queer culture greatly defines her background and she promotes inclusion in her works. Her art ranges from murals to wearable art, as seen in this production. She’s currently enrolled as a nursing student and just had a baby!

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