Asian American Ballet Project Receives NEFA Grant and Appoints Two Veteran Dancers to Expanded Leadership Roles

The Asian American Ballet Project (AABP) has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation. With this funding, AABP has appointed two veteran company members, Mollie Petrizzo and Amane Takaishi, as dancer representatives, creating expanded leadership roles within the organization.

The New England Dance Fund provides direct support to dance artists who identify opportunities that significantly impact their creative practice or advance their role within the New England dance landscape. This award marks the second New England Dance Fund grant AABP has received since the company’s founding in 2022.

As dancer representatives, Petrizzo and Takaishi will support the well-being of fellow company members and serve as liaisons between the dancers and AABP’s artistic staff. Both artists will fulfill these responsibilities while continuing to perform with the company.

“I am deeply grateful that Mollie and Amane are stepping into these additional roles at AABP,” said Beth Mochizuki, Artistic Director of the Asian American Ballet Project. “Their leadership and care for our artistic community will strengthen how we work together and allow us to create even more powerful art.”

Asian American Ballet Project, founded in 2022, is the very first Asian American ballet company. AABP commissions works from local and international Asian American choreographers whose repertoire spans classical to contemporary ballet. The Boston-based company produces an annual summer concert, and past performances have been held at Arrow Street Arts, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, and Multicultural Arts Center.

Its mission is to present Asian American dancers on stage together in all Asian American productions. They aim to tell stories from their unique perspectives and transform how audiences see Asian Americans in performance, from unexpected to accepted.

Learn more at https://asianamericanballetproject.org/

Mollie Petrizzo and Amane Takaishi in ‘Sleeping Beauty’, July 2023. Photo credit Nicole Marie Photography