Past Events
January 24-26 2024
The 34th Annual International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance
In January 2024, Gesel traveled with co-collaborator Rebecca Salzer to the 2024 International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference and Festival, where they were Invited to present Premiering the No Boundaries Archive: A Digital Love Letter to Black Dance Legacies.
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Check out the Dancing Digital Progress Blog, where you can read more about our research team and the history of our project.
August 2022
Gesel Mason at Dance/USA Denver
Gesel Mason will be a keynote speaker at Dance/USA Connect in August 2022!
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In-Person Convening will take place in Denver, CO. Programming will be grounded in archiving and preservation and include sessions about building, maintaining, and animating dance archives; succession planning; safeguarding organizational legacy; and opportunities for one-on-one consultations with archivists. More information about programming an be found on the Dance/USA website!
April 24, 2020
No Boundaries at Fusebox Festival!
For the first time since it was recorded in April 2018, the full performance of "NO BOUNDARIES: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers" will stream live on Friday, April 24th at 8:30pm CST as a part of Fusebox Festival 2020: Virtual Edition! "No Boundaries" features the work of Kyle Abraham, Rennie Harris, Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Rousséve, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. (The performance will also be available on noboundariesarchive.com for the duration of the Fusebox Festival - April 24th-26th.)
Then, on Sunday, April 26th at 2:00pm CST, join Gesel for "LIVE DISCUSSION: Gesel Mason and Making of NO BOUNDARIES", a conversation with humanities scholar Dr. Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, dramaturg Melanie George, and dancer/choreographer MK Abadoo, as they discuss the often emotional journey of performing and archiving the work of Black choreographers. Join the virtual conversation here.
May 20, 2019
Alan M. Kriegsman Creative Residency at Dance Place
Gesel Mason received Dance Place's Alan M. Kriegsman Creative Residency, which provides housing and studio space for GMPP to work on a new performance work May 20-26.
June 17, 2019
Ragdale Residency
Gesel Mason and collaborators are on site at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, IL, investigating a new performance work June 17-21, 2019.
November 18, 2019
Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, FL
The Rauschenberg Foundation awarded Gesel Mason a six week residency at their location on Robert Rauschenberg’s former property on Captiva Island, Florida, where he lived and worked for nearly four decades.
October 2025
Gesel Mason receives Dance/USA Fellowship
Gesel Mason Performance Projects is delighted to announce that Gesel Mason is one of the awardees for in Dance/USA's Fellowships to artists (DFA) program!
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Check out this link, where you can read more about Round Three of Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists Awardees.
December 17, 2020
Gesel Mason and Rebecca Salzer receive NEH Grant
Gesel Mason and Rebecca Salzer (University of Alabama) have received funding from the National Endowment for Humanities for "Prototyping an Extensible Framework for Access to Dance Knowledge".
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This funding supports the creation of No Boundaries, an online resource to increase accessibility to recordings of works by Black choreographers along with tools to make it easier to study dance by providing the ability to search and create connections across collections.
December 17, 2020
Gesel Mason and Rebecca Salzer receive NEH Grant
Gesel Mason and Rebecca Salzer (University of Alabama) have received funding from the National Endowment for Humanities for "Prototyping an Extensible Framework for Access to Dance Knowledge".
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This funding supports the creation of No Boundaries, an online resource to increase accessibility to recordings of works by Black choreographers along with tools to make it easier to study dance by providing the ability to search and create connections across collections.
December 1, 2020
Yes, And Receives Support from NPN
Gesel Mason Performance Projects is a Spring 2020 recipient of the National Performance Network Development Fund Award for her project, Yes, And!
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April 24, 2020
Yes, And Receives NEFA/NDP Grant
Gesel Mason Performance Projects is a 2020 recipient of the NEFA NDP Production Grant for Yes, And, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
October 1, 2020
TPA/Fusebox Festival Residency
Gesel Mason Performance Projects has been selected to participate in a performing arts residency in Austin, Texas presented by
Texas Performing Arts and Fusebox Festival.
During this residency, Gesel Mason will continue to develop her recent project, Yes, And through in-person and virtual collaborations with artists in the Austin area and beyond.
October 1, 2020
Gesel Mason receives
the Distinguished Research Award
Gesel Mason Performance Projects is delighted to announce that Gesel Mason is a recipient of the
2020 Distinguished Research Award!
This award is presented by the University of Texas at Austin's Theatre and Dance Department for her outstanding creative work that "uses the craft and techniques of dance to upend 'normality' as both a political act and creative tool for exploration."
February 1, 2019
Google Arts & Culture showcases No Boundaries
Google Arts & Culture invited GMPP to showcase No Boundaries on their Arts & Cultural online platform in partnership with 651 Arts. This is the first step towards creating a digital archive where you can access a small portion of the No Boundaries archives. Visit the No Boundaries Collections on Google Arts & Culture.
The Google Cultural Institute, including Google Arts & Culture, is an initiative that partners with museums, archives and other cultural institutions to bring the world’s cultural heritage online. With free tools and technologies, partners can showcase their cultural content making it more widely accessible to a global audience. Google’s Cultural Institute is a non-profit platform and is intended to showcase Partner’s cultural content on a non-commercial basis.
News
June 17-20, 2025
Dance/USA 2025 National Conference
Gesel Mason and Rebecca Salzer (University of Alabama) traveled to the Dance/USA National Conference, where they were invited to present, No Boundaries Archive: A Model for Democratizing Dance Legacies
The lecture-demonstration walked attendees through the new digital archive, showcasing its features and sharing ideas for how the resource can be used to represent voices often excluded from archives.
Febuary-March 2025
Gesel Mason Performance Projects in Maine
GMPP returned to Maine to continue building on the groundwork laid in previous summers, while planning for a summer performance event.
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While there Gesel created a new work, En Route, with Bates College students, with choreographic assistance from Love Muwwakil Estes and dramuaturgy with Yunina Barbour - Payne.
February 21-23, 2025
8th Annual W.E.B Du Bois Legacy Festival
Hosted by the Town of Great Barrington W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee and sponsored by BRIDGE.
Jabob’s Pillow and the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee invited GMPP to share the spirit of Yes, And as part of 8th Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival in Great Barrington, MA.
Gesel brought together Roxannne Young, Dr. Amma Ghartey Tagoe Kootin, and Khalil Sulivan to lead a movement workshop, inviting participants to explore and express the core values championed by W.E.B. Du Bois.