The mission of Prometheus Dance is to create original high quality choreography and dance performance in collaboration with composers and designers; to promote a love for dance throughout the community with dedication and commitment; to continue to create works which inspire audiences and raise human issues vital to the community as they serve as a social awakening mechanism.

Prometheus Dance is an ensemble of ten dancers performing contemporary dance/theatre created by co-Artistic Directors Diane Arvanites & Tommy Neblett.

Prometheus Dance was founded in 1987 by Ms. Arvaintes and is one of Massachusetts’ most outstanding and established modern dance companies, contributing quality dance performance, arts education and cultural service to the community.  Named “One of the Year’s Ten Best in Dance“ by the Boston Phoenix-2007 & 2004, The Boston Herald-2002, and The Boston Globe-2000, the company performs extensively both nationally and internationally. Developed through a highly-charged and visceral technical language, the dances of Prometheus are intimate, articulate and provocative. Each work engages the audience on multiple artistic levels often with a platform of social statement and psychological intricacy.  The repertory of Prometheus Dance is long lived and has reached diverse audiences in New England, Europe and South America. The company is known for its performances of the large-scale works Apokalypsis, concerning the world-wide refugee crisis; Dreams, based on Jungian symbolism; Impromptus & Intrigues, a modern setting of a Schubertiade; and Anadimioupyia, exploring the physical beauty of Tourettes Syndrome; as well as OperaBoston’s Nixon In China, Alceste and The Pearl Fishers; repertory pieces performed to jazz, world and commissioned original music; and outreach performances in public schools, homeless shelters and nursing homes.

Prometheus Dance has been produced in New York City by the Joyce SoHo, New York University, Downtown Baca, La Mama, at Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors Festival and in Avery Fisher Hall with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; in Boston by the Celebrity Series, Opera Boston, Dance Umbrella, Crash Arts, First Night, the Boston Center for the Arts, Emerson Stage, The Boston Conservatory, and The Yard; and in Connecticut by the New England Artists’ Trust Congress and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.  The company regularly performs internationally, including Marseille, France; Santiago, Spain; Valencia, Venezuela; and Quito, Ecuador.

As a newly formed second company, The Elders Ensemble is a performing group made up of post-professional dancers ages 60-85.  The Elders perform at senior centers, healthcare facilities and community events, as well as with the main company in special choreographic projects.  In April 2006, The Elders Ensemble received a Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for outstanding and inventive arts programming.

In addition to its evening concert series’, Prometheus Dance presents free mini-performances and workshops designed specifically for outreach audiences. The Artistic Directors believe that creating choreographies that address social issues is both essential and educational.  Exploring the human condition and illuminating individual strife, creates respect, tolerance and value for every life in the community.  The company has performed at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Framingham (maximum security women’s prison), Rosie’s Place (battered women’s shelter), the Jane Doe Walk for Women’s Safety, the Boston Alzheimer’s Center, World AIDS Day Observances, concert fund raisers for Katrina and local benefits.  Prometheus Dance presents Opposites, its acclaimed K-5 in-school performance throughout the public education systems of Metro-Boston and is currently working on a new project with composer John Kusiak entitled The Fool of the World.

Diane Arvanites & Tommy Neblett have received numerous awards for their work, including a Creativity Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowships for Choreography from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. They are full-time members of the dance faculties of The Boston Conservatory and Walnut Hill School; as well as teaching at Harvard University and The Dance Complex.

“It’s art that makes worthwhile questions impossible to ignore.”
The Boston Herald

Prometheus Dance is, or has been, supported through the generosity of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Rantoul Foundation, Oppenheimer Legacy, the Ratshesky Foundation, the Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation, the LEF Foundation, the Cultural Agenda Fund of Boston, the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville Arts Councils, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Meet the Composer, Inc., Lucy S. Thorndike, and by numerous friends and donors.

Prometheus Dance has also received invaluable in-kind support donated from The Boston Conservatory, Walnut Hill School, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, The Dance Complex, and many individuals who have contributed their time, talent, and sweat to the development of the company.