Luminarium Dance Company

Luminarium's 24-Hour ChoreoFest™

America's only 24-hour choreography festival

Welcome

Welcome to Luminarium's annual 24-Hour Choreofest, an event that gave local artists the opportunity to create and present new work all within the span of one 24-hour period. From its participants to viewers, ChoreoFest continuously provided an engaging and educational experience—demystifying the genre of dance for those attending, and stretching the limits of choreography and artistic collaboration for those creating new work.

Learn more

Enjoy videos, testimonials, and press below.

WHAT IS CHOREOFEST?

Luminarium pioneered this unique annual festival, in which five dance companies joined Luminarium in locking themselves inside the famous Dance Complex overnight to create new work for a performance the following evening. Viewers were encouraged to watch the process unfold via live stream online throughout the 24-hour period.

It needs to be supported, hands down . . . People like the mayor, people from the white house—these important people need to be here to see how creative [Luminarium's ChoreoFest] is here in Boston.

Orlando Barrett

2014 ChoreoFest participant from Jamaica

ChoreoFest 2013

2013 participants included: Impact Dance, Intimations, Monkeyhouse, Paradise Lost, and Ryan P. Casey. All profits later used in Luminarium’s 2014 season, providing free classes for underserved communities.

ChoreoFest 2012

2012 participants included: 1,000 Virtues Dance, Sarah Mae Gibbons and Renée Amirault, Monkeyhouse, The People Movers, and Synthesis Aesthetics Project. All profits from the inaugural 2012 performance were donated to Young At Arts, an arts-based charity in South Boston MA.

Read our article in the Boston Globe

Creative Process

2014's ChoreoFest had an all-time high for the number of donated themes. Thanks for contributing!

Creative Process

Luminarium Dance's Rose and Nikki work out a vigorous duet.

Creative Process

Props are fair game for the stage or simply inspiration.

Creative Process

The Lipstick Criminals having a blast while tossing out new ideas for their choreographic challenge.

Creative Process

Stefanie D. Belnavis creates charts to brainstorm the emotional pulls of their new work unfolding.

Creative Process

So much happening in this image! A creative moment caught in the act while Sam (middle) keeps the live stream going on her phone for at-home viewers in the wee hours.

Creative Process

Lipstick Criminals taking notes.

Creative Process

Our 2014 vaudeville group The TropiGals start to get a little punchy as the night progresses and the crinoline comes out.

Creative Process

Beyonce makes an appearance, with new "images for inspiration" being changed each hour.

Creative Process

Late-night acrobatics.

Creative Process

Nicole of Monkeyhouse sets the yarn in motion.

Creative Process

Sharing thoughts on the topic at hand and the ways of choreographically expressing this through movement.

The overnight creative process:

Beyond the rehearsal space... Documentation, live stream, feedback, discussions, health, and sustenance:

Documentation

Each year, ChoreoFest is professionally documented both onstage and behind the scenes, with a photographer and videographer roaming the festival throughout the 24 hours. Participants are given access to all professional footage and photography to add to their growing portfolios; a necessity for budding artists and added benefit for those more established in the field.

Live Stream

Each season, more than 100 at-home viewers tune in to view the process unfolding leading up to the show. In 2014, the festival reached an international audience through this outlet, with viewers writing in from Jamaica.

Feedback

Throughout the night, companies take advantage of the 24-hour process by sitting in on each other's rehearsals and offering feedback on the new works.

Sustenance

You can never have too much coffee, pastries, sandwiches, fruits, veggies, and gluten-free options, and at ChoreoFest we do not go without!

Sustenance

Participants enjoy snacks throughout the festival and often make new friends from other companies in the process.

Health

Participants are welcome to bring whatever they please to transform the Dance Complex into "home" during the festival. Seen here, dancers take a 3am nap on one of the many blowup mattresses wisely brought.

Discussion

The goal of ChoreoFest is not only to create new work, but to foster new dialogue in the local dance community. At 1am, choreographers and performers part ways to each have discussions about the process thus far and how to take what they've learned and apply it to the studio beyond the festival.