Upcoming events
Performance at DSA Conference
Performance at Dance Studies Association International Conference
Freedom Time: dancing justice dancing abolition
FREEDOM TIME: dancing justice dancing abolition
An evening of dance and conversation around dancing within prisons, community, care, and justice, with Dancing Through Prison Walls and Sming Sming Books.
Dancing Through Prison Walls, a porous community of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and “free world” performers and artists, will present dances written by incarcerated collaborators inside Bayamon Prison; in Puerto Rico.
Using movement and storytelling as acts of resistance and survival, Freedom Time is a call for a world without cages. This evening’s Open Access program will bring our community together to witness the astounding dances written and performed by the Dancing Through Prison Walls community.
“What Branfman and her collaborators have curated appears deceptively simple: minimal sets, direct narration, embodied testimony and movement. Yet the cumulative effect is profound. Art here becomes survival, protest, memory, and prophetic. The performance does not romanticize incarceration; it confronts it. It insists that creativity persists even in the most restrictive environments.” – Joanne DiVito, LA Dance Chronicle
Following the performance, Dancing Though Prison Walls members will be reading from their new book, Freedom Time: Dancing Through Prison Walls, published by Sming Sming Books. Artist- publisher Vivian Sming will speak about the book project and its creation process, and the evening will conclude with a conversation between the audience, Sming, Branfman, and members of the Dancing Through Prison Walls community.
Dancing Through Prison Walls is a 2023 Lucas Artists Program Fellow. In each residency, numerous members of their community arrived on property, working and creating in community with each other as well as other LAP Fellows. During their second residency in 2025, they began choreographic work on many of the dances presented in this Open Access program and worked with Sming Sming Books to edit the accompanying Freedom Time book, which will be available at this event. This evening’s program celebrates the meaningful work that Dancing Through Prison Walls does, highlighting their LAP residency while amplifying the dancing stories embodied within carceral landscapes and beyond.
FREEDOM TIME, Dance at the Odyssey
2/6 and 2/7 at 8pm, and 2/8 at 2pm
Purchase tickets here.
Presentation: Dancing through prison walls
American College Dance Association Presentation
Dancing through prison walls: 10-year choreographic collaboration inside a California state prison
Film screening: Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic
A free screening followed by a community panel discussion as part of the Let’s Talk Let’s Listen series.
Intersection: Where Art and Community Meet
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA. More info here.
2025
August
Recess Art: Brooklyn, NY
July
Recess Art: Brooklyn, NY
June
Dance Studies Association Conference: Washington, DC
Recess Art: Brooklyn, NY
May
Montalvo Arts Center: Saratoga, CA
California State University, San Marcos Dance Department: San Marcos, CA
Freewaves Festival: Los Angeles, CA
Show and Prove Hip Hop Conference: San Diego, CA
April
Homeboy Industries: Los Angeles, CA
University of California, Riverside: Riverside, CA
March
Homeboy Industries: Los Angeles, CA
California Dance Educators Association Conference: Long Beach, CA
GSON Studios: Glendale, CA
Wishtoyo Cultural Center: Malibu, CA
University of Puerto Rico, UPR-Río Piedras Campus and Bayamon Correctional Facility 292: San Juan, PR
California State University, San Marcos Dance Department: San Marcos, CA
February
Ohio State University and London Correctional Facility: Columbus, OH
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Homeboy Industries: Los Angeles, CA
January
Homeboy Industries: Los Angeles, CA
2024
December
South Dakota State Penitentiary: Sioux Falls/Pine Falls, SD
November
Homeboy Industries: Los Angeles, CA
October
Lula Washington Dance Theater: Los Angeles, CA
University of California, San Diego Dance Department: San Diego, CA
California State University, San Marcos Dance Department: San Marcos, CA
September
National Dance Educators Association Conference: Seattle, WA
Duke University Dance Department: Durham, NC
July
Dance Studies Association International Conference: Buenos Aires, AR
South Dakota State Penitentiary: Sioux Falls, SD/Pine Ridge SD
June
Montalvo Art Center: Saratoga, CA
Desert Hot Springs, CA
May
Desert Hot Springs Public Library: Desert Hot Springs, CA
April
California State University, Los Angeles, Department of Theatre and Dance: Los Angeles, CA
University of Texas, Austin, Department of Dance: Austin, TX
Scripps Humanities Institute, Scripps College: Claremont, CA
California Institution for Women: Chino, CA
March
Ohio State University, Dance Department: Columbus, OH
Otis College of Art and Design: Los Angeles, CA
February
Sam Cobb Farms: Desert Hot Springs, CA
Cornell University, Theatre Department: Ithaca, NY
California Institution for Women: Chino, CA
January
Mission Creek Preserve: Desert Hot Springs, CA
2023
December
Desert Hot Springs Library: Desert Hot Springs, CA
November
Desert Hot Springs Library: Desert Hot Springs, CA
October
Desert Hot Springs Library: Desert Hot Springs, CA
California State University, Fullerton Dance Department: Fullerton, CA
Cornell University, Theatre Department: Ithaca, NY
Desert Hot Springs Library: Desert Hot Springs, CA
September
Art and Abolition: Tallahassee, FL
University of Texas, San Antonio: San Antonio, TX
University of Texas, Austin, Department of Theatre and Dance: Austin, TX
Western Arts Alliance Conference, PITCH NOW session: Seattle, WA
August
Loyola Marymount University, Dance Department: Los Angeles, CA
June
Phoenix Players Theatre Group, Auburn Prison: Auburn, NY
Jameson Spiritual Conference and Powwow, South Dakota State Penitentiary: Sioux Falls, SD
May
Towards Abolitionist Horizons: 25 Years of Critical Resistance: San Francisco, CA
April
Connecting Art & Law for Liberation (CALL) Festival at UCLA: Los Angeles, CA
March
Rutgers University: New Brunswick, NJ
February
Loyola Marymount University: Los Angeles, CA
Odyssey Theatre: Los Angeles, CA
January
California Dance Education Association Conference: Fullerton, CA
2022
November
Loyola Marymount University: Los Angeles, CA
October
Emerson College: Boston, MA
California College of The Arts: San Francisco, CA
Solano Prison: Vacaville, CA
Mills College: Oakland, CA
San Quentin State Prison: San Quentin, CA
Dance Studies Association International Conference: Vancouver, BC
September
Cornell University: Ithaca, NY
August
Latchis Theatre: Brattleboro, VT
Kopkind Film Colony: Guilford, VT
July
Real Art Ways: Hartford, CT
June
Grand Performances: Los Angeles, CA
March
Dance Camera West Film Festival: Los Angeles, CA
February
New York University Tisch School of the Arts: New York, NY
January
Beyond the Bars Conference: Los Angeles, CA
2021
November
Scripps Presents: Claremont, CA
October
Dance Studies Association National Conference: Newark, NJ
National Dance Educators Organization National Conference (Virtual)
Social Justice Film Festival: Seattle, WA
September
University Southern California Journalism School: Los Angeles, CA
August
Pieter: Los Angeles, CA
June
Justice Arts Coalition National Conference (Virtual)
May
Kopkind Film Colony: Guilford, VY
Crime and the Body Conference: Claremont, CA
Pasadena City College: Pasadena, CA
April
18th Street Arts Complex: Santa Monica, CA
Black Mamas Bailout: Philadelphia, PA
March
This Is Not a Gun: Los Angeles, CA
National Conference on Higher Education in Prison (Virtual)
February
Printed Matter Book Fair: New York, NY
Scripps College: Claremont, CA
January
Ali Film Week: Huntington Beach, CA
2020
December
The Institute for Contemporary Art Los Angeles: Los Angeles, CA
November
Progressive Film Festival: Irvine, CA
February
Miles Memorial Playhouse: Santa Monica, CA
2019
November
Garrison Theatre: Claremont, CA
June
Berkeley Art Museum: Berkeley, CA
May
University Theatre: Pomona, CA
April
Garrison Theatre: Claremont, CA
February
Miles Memorial Playhouse: Santa Monica, CA
2018
December
California Rehabilitation Center: Norco, CA
April
Garrison Theatre: Claremont, CA
January
Highways Performance Space: Santa Monica, CA
2017
October
Mondavi Center: Davis, CA
April
California Rehabilitation Center: Norco, CA