BODYART’s core programming focuses on site-inspired/specific performance (via dance film and live dance) and community engagement that blends movement and storytelling. Our performance program presents new work both digitally and in person that investigates female-driven narratives and marginalized voices for local and global audiences.

In 2023, BODYART launched the International Dance Festival New Orleans (IDFNOLA), a platform for cross-cultural exchange and artistic innovation in contemporary dance. Through performances, masterclasses, and community engagement, the festival brings together local and international artists while promoting diversity and professional development. The next festival will take place in September 2025, with plans underway to expand the model to Los Angeles.

In response to COVID-19 and the rise in domestic violence, BODYART developed Moving to Heal (M2H), a movement-based program created in partnership with local women’s shelters. Designed to help survivors reconnect to their bodies and work through trauma, M2H classes are one hour long and use movement to restore agency and support healing. After co-developing the curriculum with dance therapist Patricia Earl, BODYART piloted the program in New Orleans and later partnered with 1736 Family Crisis Center and Trauma Informed Los Angeles. We are now planning to expand M2H both in-person and virtually throughout LA.

BODYART also developed Placeholder, an iterative, site-specific research project created for community activation through interactive, resident-led art events. Its first iteration, in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, took place in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and explored the impact of urban blight on cultural identity. BODYART is currently working to bring Placeholder to Los Angeles communities, with research scheduled to begin this fall.