About Seeds

Seeds is a comprehensive project providing emerging and seasoned dancemakers with tools, means and support to create, develop and premiere a new, finished work. This is a twelve-week crash course in self producing a choreographic work ready for future festival & venue showings. Seeds encompasses a subsidized rehearsal space, career development consultations, professional mentorship and numerous connections within the dance community, culminating in a two-evening fully produced performance at Arts Mission Oak Cliff (AMOC) in Oak Cliff, Dallas.

The project is free of charge--no application fees, no production fees, and no rental costs will be charged to the applicant/choreographer. The total value of the program is estimated to be at least $3,000/choreographer. Agora Artists also provides a modest budget to remunerate choreographers, dancers and cover production expenses such as costumes, props and travel reimbursements.

The Seeds program encompasses 5 main elements:

  • Space Grant

    Each choreographer receives up to 20 hours of subsidized rehearsal space, administered through Agora Artists’ partnership with the Arts Mission Oak Cliff. Choreographers will be charged $5/hour for space, one-third of AMOC’s rental rate and a significantly lower rate than many area dance studios. 

  • Professional Development & Mentorship

    Participants receive advice from working professionals at each workshop and receive hands-on feedback on staging and directing, writing, costumes, lighting, organization, scheduling and finance. Once the rehearsal process starts, participants meet every other Sunday to brainstorm with peers and to share feedback on their works in-progress. Dancers are also invited to brainstorming sessions, enriching the conversation with multiple points of view. 

  • Production Budget

    Each choreographer is allotted a modest budget to be used for personal remuneration, pay dancers/performers, purchase costumes, materials, props etc. Each choreographer will receive a project budget of $1,000 to subsidize their total budget. Detailed budgets will be discussed with the participants in the first workshop. 

  • Performance

    Seeds culminates in a fully produced two-night performance in the Sanctuary at Arts Mission Oak Cliff complete with full dress rehearsal and tech.

  • Network Building

    The choreographers selected for Seeds are brought into the program as a group and are expected to support each other along this choreographic journey. They meet every other Sunday for workshops, check-ins, and feedback sessions. Additionally, Agora Artists invites local arts leaders to the concert in hopes choreographers may build relationships with local presenters and arts leaders for future professional opportunities.