2021, Continuum Dance Project, What do You See
Continuum Dance Project, in collaboration with visual artist Myrna Balk, will create a new evening length dance/theatre work examining historical and contemporary stories of immigration, culminating in a public performance at Pao Arts Center June 4 – 6, 2021. This project is funded by The Boston Foundation Live Arts Boston Grant.
Photo credit: Phyllis Bretholtz
Fernadina Chan (Founder/Co-Director/Choreographer) was the founding artistic dean and dance department chair at Boston Arts Academy (BAA). Ms. Chan has received numerous awards: most notably Surdna Arts Teacher Fellowship in 2001; Teacher of the Year from the International Network of Schools for the Advancement of Arts Education in 2005; Boston Educator of the Year in 2011 and 2013 Dance Champion from Boston Dance Alliance. After retiring from BPS, Ms. Chan founded Continuum Dance Project (CDP) as a laboratory for choreography with BAA alumni in 2013, and was awarded the 2017 Boston Center for the Arts Choreographer Residency. CDP received two LLC Grants from Brookline and is the recipient of a LAB grant from The Boston Foundation. Chan's work has been presented at High School Dance Festivals in Miami, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; South Vermont Dance Festival, Rebound Festival and numerous festivals in the Greater Boston area. She is also a Certified GYROKINESIS ® and GYROTONIC® Instructor.
Photo credit: Phyllis Bretholtz
Adriane Brayton (Co-Director/Choreographer) was born in Boston, and attended the Boston Arts Academy and Connecticut College. Adriane is Co-Artistic Director of Continuum Dance Project which received the 2017 winter Choreographers' Residency program at the Boston Center for the Arts, as well as a 2020 Live Arts Boston grant from The Boston Foundation. From 2014-2016 Adriane was a guest artist for the Expansive Meanings and Makings in Art Science Project in partnership with the National Science Foundation. She is also a 2018 recipient of the New England Dance Fund granted by the New England Foundation for the Arts, with support from the Aliad Fund from The Boston Foundation. Her work has been performed at The Boston Center for the Arts, The Outside the Box Festival, The Somerville Theater, Tufts University, The Museum of Science, The Dance Complex, and Brandeis University. Adriane is a Licensed Massage Therapist, and Certified Pilates and GYROKINESIS ® Instructor.
Photo credit: Arni Cheatham
Myrna Balk’s (Visual Artist) work is often influenced by her need to reflect human rights. A hallmark of her work is both the spontaneity of working and the use of an assortment of materials. She first began as an artist by sculpting in steel and later expanded her sculptural work by using other materials, such as clay and bamboo. A recipient of three Massachusetts Cultural Council grants, Myrna has presented three one person shows; and exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally. Her work was shown in Beijing in 1995 in conjunction with the 4th United Nations World Conference on Women. Her etchings referencing international sex trafficking were shown at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2000. She was invited to the Harmony Artist Residency in Mumbai, India to create installations in black marble, sandstone, and bamboo. This work is in the permanent collection of the Ambani Foundation Mumbai, India. In 2016 Myrna showed her work in a 50 year Retrospective Show at the Piano Factory in Boston.