“Welcome Home”: A Call to Seek Comfort in Times of Tension and Tumult

Boston Moving Arts, one of the city’s rising nonprofit dance producers, presents Welcome Home, a spirited, diverse production designed to create space for comfort and relief in stressful times. Performers include dancemakers, dancers and companies based in Boston (Rachel Linsky, Leah Misano), in Montreal (Andrew Skeels, who trained in Boston), and in Washington state (the German/American dance company FLOCK makes its Boston debut here).

Welcome Home will be performed Fri., Oct., 18 and Sat., Oct. 19 at 8 pm, at the Boston University Dance Theater, 915 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

Producer David Orr says the performance showcases the richness and diversity of contemporary dance. He explored artists who were working on themes of homecoming, connection, and the human desire for peace and understanding. “I’ve seen a trend toward dancemakers responding to the challenging external factors we all face, like climate change, political and social upheaval, and economic stresses,” Orr says. “The performers in ‘Welcome Home’ are thinking about how we find comfort, in ourselves, in others and in the world…and they’re communicating it through striking and beautiful movement. This is the dance show we need right now — a reminder of the universal desire for connection, comfort, and relief during uncertain times.”

Boston-based choreographer Rachel Linksy brings a vibrant fusion of contemporary dance and Yiddish folk traditions with fresh choreography that invites the audience into a world where old traditions meet new expressions. Her new work, Gathering Sparks, is driven by the lively and evocative music of Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band (who will give a pre-curtain music performance), creating a unique and celebratory atmosphere. Orr says Linsky’s dance “feels like an invitation to celebrate at a joyous party with lifelong friends.”

Trusting, by Cambridge-based choreographer Leah Misano, infuses contemporary and folk dance with country-and-western flavor in a peppy duet created and performed with dancer Alex Meeth. Misano’s piece celebrates the freedoms one experiences dancing alone or in the presence of another. Whether with thumbs hooked in belt loops, or arms creating elegant shapes, the lively movement inspired Orr, who says the piece feels like “getting a peek at two people having enormous fun at a private but spectacularly precise and athletic hoedown.”

The Boston-born and -trained, now Montreal-based Andrew Skeels’ Unkempt is a raw and honest look at the messiness of human interactions. Through powerful choreography that incorporates chaotic movement, Skeels highlights the complexities and imperfections of relationships. Orr says “Unkempt offers an emotionally charged performance. Its fluidity, grace and complexity will bring tears to your eyes.”

Making its local debut, the German/American dance company FLOCK, based in Washington state, presents an extended excerpt of the critically acclaimed, evening- length piece, Somewhere Between, that explores the myths and stories of childhood. With undulating movement, the eight-dancer troupe conjures a mesmerizing journey into the worlds of imagination and memory. Of Somewhere Between, Orr says the love and connection in every movement will transport audiences into another fantastical world.

Tickets for Welcome Home are $30. For more information and tickets, visit bostonmovingarts.com/watch

Boston Moving Arts Welcome Home, dancers Leah Misano and Alex Meeth, Image credit BMA