Root, Grow, Release, Repeat.
Root, Grow, Release, Repeat features the solo choreography of 12 Open Arms Dance Project dancers woven together by Artistic Director Megan Brandel and Cinematographer April Frame. It was created during online rehearsals in the Fall of 2020 and filmed at the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise, Idaho. Many dancers made full artistic choices in creating their own solos, while the natural, non-choreographed movement of other dancers was celebrated. The descriptive, poetic script makes this film accessible for viewers who are blind or low vision and adds a layer of artistry for all viewers.
Box Me Outside/ Outside The Box
Vacations and road trips were not possible early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The only way to travel was a long, challenging inner journey on the wings of a Polyphemus U-Haul Moth. Throughout the first year of the pandemic there was a steady unpacking and shedding of layers that once seemed important. Then a gradual dissolving and reemergence as someone both simpler and more elementally complex.
Box Me Inside/Outside the Box: A Movement Memoir, March 2020-March 2021 was conceived in June 2020 and created during a 10-day artist residency at Surel’s Place in Garden City, Idaho, in October 2020. It was completed and filmed in March 2021 in Ms. Brandel's home office/dining room in Boise and the Owyhee mountain range outside of Marsing, Idaho. Essential collaborators in creating this piece were April Frame, Jessie Proksa, and Anne Boyles.
Movement invention came from reoccurring pandemic themes: -touching surfaces with body parts other than hands, -helping kids with schoolwork, -home projects, -fighting to concentrate in a noisy home, -massive changes, -constant adapting, -quarantining/freezing -starting again, -escapes into Nature and creative projects.
Open Arms Dance Project as a Non-Profit
After 12 years of enriching the Boise, Idaho community with our performances, Open Arms Dance Project is now a non-profit dance company! Our Mission remains the same, to create greater joy and compassion with dance that opens hearts, minds, and arms. Our Vision as a non-profit is to empower a diversity of people to share their unique creative expression through equitable, collaborative dance making that has the ability to transform communities.
Choreography, Performance, and Concept: Megan Brandel
Composer and Musician: Jessie Proksa
Cinematographer: April Frame
Collage Artist: Anne Boyles
Upstanders with Open Arms
"Upstanders with Open Arms" (UOA) is an anti-bullying program that promotes disability awareness and education, as well as acceptance of all human differences! It was created by Artistic Director of Open Arms Dance Project, Megan Brandel, and is a partnership between Open Arms and the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. UOA is deeply rooted in the values and missions of both of these non-profit organizations. The UOA anti-bullying program is based on the Wassmuth Center’s "Upstanders" tool-kit and taught through fun dance games, books, films, and Open Arms Ambassador talks. Through these methods, students develop empathy, explore how to treat others with kindness, and how to stand up for themselves and others.
Disability Flash Mob at the Idaho State Capitol
Watch as members of the Open Arms Dance Project perform a flash mob dance to stress inclusively on National Wheelchair Day at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho.
So Much Hope
In our first dance film "So Much Hope" each Open Arms Dance Project dancer created their own solo choreography in online rehearsals during the Covid-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020. Solos were filmed in front of graffiti art and in uplifting locations throughout Boise and Garden City Idaho, including the Anne Frank Memorial and Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. The choreographers in this film are nine years and older. Some dancers have disabilities and others do not. The creative expression and humanity of all dancers featured is valued and celebrated through the work we always do and in this film. We hope seeing this will help viewers open their hearts and minds to the ways people of all ages and abilities contribute to a diverse, whole, and healthy community.
Flipping the Script
Go behind-the-scenes of the Open Arms Dance Project in Boise as it rehearses for its biggest concert ever, and then performs. You’ll also meet some of the members of this inclusive, multi-generational company, which includes dancers with disabilities and others who identify as able-bodied.