A good friend once told me that BosmaDance is everywhere I am. She told me that it doesn’t make a difference where I lay my head at night, that BosmaDance -- the need to speak through movement, and the vehicle to do so -- lives within me. Lately, I’ve been grappling with the reality of this idea. Since leaving the Washington, DC-area in June of 2009, many changes have taken place, both personally and professionally. I became a mother, an overwhelming shift that has left my vision, my voice, my goals, and my purpose altered for good. And a recent move from the US to Turkey has taken me farther away from the dancers and supporters who helped shape BosmaDance from the beginning, for seven extraordinary years. My life continues to move in unimaginable directions. But I must adapt and be flexible and reach out to a new community in a new country and make it my own. BosmaDance is still within me, and it too must evolve.

Pregnancy and birth force a woman to slow down. The body demands more sleep, more food, and more silence when a baby is growing inside of it. As a mother, you’re given a limited amount of energy to use because the majority is reserved for the life within. Your body is not your own. Try telling this to a dancer who is childless; or describing this to me earlier in my career. I would have never understood the weight of such words. Your body is not your own. This is hard for all expecting mothers to accept, but especially hard for the dancer, someone who has built a life based on the ability to move without inhibition.  You wonder how on earth you will ever set foot into a room filled with mirrors again. You ask yourself if it is worth the risk of complete disappointment and failure as you walk back into a studio. But …

One step at a time you notice how, at a cellular level, your muscles are starving for the movement that can only happen in the dance studio. And then you are guided into a structured improvisation with a partner, sharing space; the forgotten but soon familiar state of moving with another person. Your muscles are breathing in the dance as fast as they can, and you have to remind yourself to take it easy. Breathe deeply. You forget that five months ago you were idling with a beautiful baby in your belly. You are in the studio. You are dancing again. The strength and speed will come, and you recall all the words of wisdom that experienced mothers have shared with you, “Just give it time.” 

BosmaDance is postpartum. There’s more to come. -MB

BosmaDance mission statement
BosmaDance is committed to the creation and presentation of high-quality dance performances, educational experiences, and artistic collaborations for adult and youth audiences.

Meisha Bosma Biography
Meisha Bosma is the founder and artistic director of BosmaDance, a contemporary dance company. Over the past ten years, Meisha has served dance communities as an educator, choreographer, performer, and arts advocate. Her award-winning choreography has been commissioned and presented by the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, CityDance Ensemble, the Alexandria Performing Arts Association, Virginia Commission for the Arts and many universities throughout the country. Dance Magazine recognized Meisha Bosma as “One to Watch For” in 2007, and The Washingtonian named Bosma “One of DC’s Most Powerful Women under 40” for her artistic contributions made to the metropolitan DC community. Under her direction, BosmaDance has won five Metro-DC Dance Awards. A native of Michigan, Meisha earned her MA in Dance and Education from American University and her BA in Journalism from Michigan State University. As a company member with Jerusalem-based Kolben Dance Company, she toured throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Awards & Recognitions
2007 Dance Magazine “25 to Watch For”
Meisha Bosma named one of “25 to Watch For” by Dance Magazine 2007.

2007 Metro DC Dance Award Finalist
“Excellence in Lighting Design” for Shelter
“Excellence in Sound Design/Original Composition” for Grass

2006 Meisha Bosma named “One of DC’s Most Powerful Women”
- Washingtonian Magazine

2005 Outstanding Individual Performance MDCDA
–Meisha Bosma in Blind Spot

2005 Outstanding New Work Metro DC Dance Award
– Blind Spot

2005 Emerging Performer Metro DC Dance Award
–BosmaDance’s Eileen Schwartz

2005 Emerging Choreographer Metro DC Dance Award
–Meisha Bosma

2004 Outstanding New Work Metro DC Dance Award
–I Love, I Don’t

Alexandria Performing Arts Association continues to support BosmaDance through numerous grants and financial sponsorship.

We thank all of our partners who generously contribute.

BosmaDance Reviews
Washington Post Reviews
“If these dancers could have finessed Bosma's machinations in stilettos, it would have been perfect, for stiletto sharp is their attack”

“Bosma’s dancers and choreography match well. The dance calls for an athleticism that the dancers fully inhabit. Bosma seems to have a keen eye when it comes to choreography... the work truly creates a world.”

“Bosma is making waves on the dance scene!”

“You can feel the sting of inspiration in Meisha Bosma’s works. Fresh experience seemed to spur the drive, emotional heat and flung-out movement in the seven pieces that her excellent troupe, BosmaDance, performed at Dance Place over the weekend. This sense of spontaneity was true of the older works as well as the new ones, though her dances dated from only five years ago, at most. Bosma, one of the area's most gifted and prolific choreographers, has been busy lately.”
A Vibrant BosmaDance
Music and Dance, In Classical Harmony

Dance Magazine
“There’s fragility and ferocity in the dances Meisha Bosma fashions for her 13-woman company BosmaDance. Since its founding in 2002 in northern Virginia, Bosma has garnered critical acclaim for her fearless energy, uninhibited expressiveness, and choreographic vision. A Michigan native, Bosma spent two years with Israel’s Kombina Dance Company assimilating a highly physical theatrical approach to movement. Her ‘Handle with Care’ swirls and careens like a carousel before growing to stiletto-hardened maturity. Bosma’s characters achingly long for sanctuary amid today’s unstable world.”

Virginia Commonwealth University Residency
“Meisha Bosma’s “For What Was” was one of the most beautiful pieces of the evening because of its rudimentary choreography. The piece was laden with ballet-inspired movement and was very soothing to watch when compared to the more hard-edged works of the evening. Set to one of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras,” the duo of Samantha Crawford and Jessica Wright was radiant with poise and grace.”
Faculty, guest-artist choreography dazzles audiences

Dance View Times
“Compellingly unforgettable”

“A cadre of top-flight dancers and an artistic director with a keen eye for fresh work.”

“Meisha Bosma is not afraid to let her dancers weep, laugh, gag, twitch or wriggle in decidedly unattractive ways. Yet for all the gawky poses she finagles, her compact evening of newe and recent work is surprisingly beautiful and satisfyingly stimulating.”

“Handle with Care, her most fully realized piece is a stunner, leaving me wanting more from this tribe of female characters.”

bosmadance past performances

In Plaster


Gokyo

Sky Kisses Earth

SUPPORT THE ARTS!
It is a fact that BosmaDance would not exist without individual sponsorship. Please consider making a donation to help support the administrative and artistic efforts of our company. Your contribution is greatly appreciated and is also tax deductible.

Please send your donations today to:
(checks payable to ‘APAA’)

Alexandria Performing Arts Association
PO Box 1925
Alexandria, VA 22313

Supported by Lulumon Athletic