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Danza Organica

Danza Organica (D.O) is an American professional dance company based in Boston, Massachusetts founded in 2007 under the directorship of Marsha Parrilla. Danza Organica includes a team of seven core members and a series of collaborators and residential artists. Danza Organica utilizes various movement techniques including modern Horton, Cunningham, Afro-Puerto Rican bomba, plena, salsa, and classical ballet. Through D.O.'s incorporation of various forms of performance such as vocals, poetry, and puppetry, D.O has cultivated a new practice to encourage discussions about oppression and misrepresentation.

Outreach work

• We Create: Celebrating Women in the Arts: The We Create festival was featured in an article by BNN . The We Create Festival is composed of different mediums which include, film, dance, spoken word, and music. Artists such as Tatiana Vargas-Sosa, Joan Green, Molly Lynn Watt, Neige Christenson, Loreta Paz Ansalado, Isabel Catalina Hibbard, Allyssa Jones, Jenny Herzog, Lily Evelett, Alexis Hedrick, Elaine Fong, Karen Klein, and Yosi Karahashi, come together once a year to celebrate their identities' through rhythmic expression.

• Dance Research Online Forum: Danza Organica curated the Dance Research Online Forum to integrate Boston artists' fanbases together through a singular platform. The Dance Research Online Forum is a destination that includes interviews from critically acclaimed artists such as Jean Appolon. as Marcus Schulkind, Nicole Pierce, Katiti King, Yo-el Cassel, Tony Williams, and Peter DiMuro.

• Running In Stillness 2015-2017: Through collaboration with Sisters Unchained, a Boston-based organization that seeks to provide support and resources to young women who have had to deal with the theme of incarceration within their lives and families, (D.O’s) most recent work addresses the topic of mass incarceration and its impact on women, families, and community relationships.

Recent Productions

• Drought- (2015) A performance dance piece inspired by the drought afflicting many parts of Puerto Rico.
• Her story- (2014) This performance depicts a mother's journey as she discovers her pregnancy, gives birth to her daughter, and struggles with how to teach her daughter about facing the reality of a patriarchal society.
• Raíces (2013) - "Raíces pays homage to Puerto Rico, the land of my roots. Ironically, the island -under continued colonization- has a feeling of being unmoored from the past, searching for identity, floating in its own diaspora. The motherland must be imagined. I honor the island's African heritage, its natural beauty, and the political complexities that leave us feeling upside down."
• Periplo (2012-2013) - Spanish for "a long journey", Periplo explores the journeys that we make personally and collectively -searching, fleeing, or just moving through- in pursuit of opportunity or self-discovery. Periplo is inspired by the migration stories of our families, and the habitats they built and left behind, which they adapted to and then built again. Their lessons of resilience, love, and solidarity steeled them on their journeys and fortify us on ours.

• Joe (2013) - This compelling solo (choreographed by Joe Gonzalez) portrays Joe's experience as a young Dominican child whose family migrated to the USA. In order to fit in, he was not allowed to speak Spanish. Joe depicts his struggle to adapt, retain and discover himself in a new land.

• Marea (2011) - This exquisite duet explores the changes and transitions that take place in romantic relationships.

• Tempo (2011) - Short solo that elicits the roots of Afro Brazilian Capoeira Angola and Contemporary Dance.

• Adentro (2011) - Delves into difficult relationships where words are not enough, and time to heal is required to move forward.

• Japón (2011) - A contemplative statement in solidarity with those in Japan whose lives were so dramatically changed by the tsunami and nuclear disaster in March, 2011.

• Do I Look "Illegal"? (2011) - A one-woman-show that explores and challenges the philosophies behind the controversial immigration laws in the United States of America.

• Lysis (2010) - This piece explores how we are subconsciously connected to each other through our dream-state. In an abstract form, it investigates the collective exploration of our experience in the world.

• Lucha Libre (2010) - An interactive solo created in protest of Arizona's SB 1070. This piece was featured in Bill Evertson's blogspot, under Art and Conscience.

• Harina (2010) - An organic, intimate and playful duet that seeks to explore desire, and its entangling emotions

• Bajo mi piel (2009) - An intense solo based on the epidemic of femicide in Juarez, Mexico (and around the world).

• Transición (2008) - A solo work based on the experience of moving, and the search for identity in a new territory.

• Solidarias (2007) - An antiwar ensemble piece in protest of the war in Iraq (but dedicated to all invaded territories).

• Caricia (2007) - A luscious solo piece based on a woman's experience with fertility.

• Anatomy of Nature (2007) - A meditative, yet lively ensemble work that looks into the relationship between nature and the human spirit.

Current dancers

• Marsha Parrilla
• Victoria Sagardía
• Reina Kato Lansigan
• Amy Palmieri Burns
• McKersin Previlus
• Ella Wechsler-Matthaei
• Tyhgita Céspedes

Marsha Parrilla

Marsha Parrilla is the Founding Artistic Director of Danza Orgánica. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moved to NYC in 1998. Marsha Parrilla holds a Masters degree in Dance Education from NYU, and is a Massachusetts Certified Dance Teacher. Marsha has taught Dance in NYC and Boston Public Schools, Boston University, the State University of New York in Stony Brook, the Roxbury Community College, and Green Street Studios. Marsha Parrilla is a Luminary Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Neighborhood Salon. She is a proud recipient of the Creative City Grant, and the New England Dance Fund- awarded by the New England Foundation for the Arts, and a Festivals Grant awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council towards We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts. Most recently, Parrilla was awarded a Creative Development Residency at the prestigious Jacob's Pillow Dance which was featured by the Boston Globe.

• Recipient of New England Dance Fund, awarded by the New England Foundation for the Arts in 2016

• Selected as Luminary Artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Neighborhood Salon 2016-2017 (by nomination only)

• Recipient of scholarship for the Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute, 2016

• Recipient of New England Foundation of the Arts Creative City Grant, for the project:

• Recipient of a Festival Programs Grant, awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council towards the annual festival:  We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts, 2016.

• Recipient of space grant (Artist-in- Residence) at the Tony Williams Dance Center, for

• Green Street Studios company residency, (2014-2015)

• Recipient of E-MERGE residency at Earthdance, MA (2015) 

• Recipient of I-ARE  (Integrated Artist Residency) at the Dance Complex, (2014)

• Recipient of Dome Away from Home Foundation rehearsal and retreat space grant, in Vermont. (2013)

• Recipient of Green Street Studios New Works Program.  (2013).

• Recipient of Boston Dance Alliance Fourth Rehearsal and Retreat Fellowship (2012).

• Selected as a RAW Artist in the field of performance/video (2012).

• Recipient of Boston Center for the Arts Movement at the Mills rehearsal space and performance grant (2010).