Sunday Salon
2025-08-03 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
Sunday, August 3, 2025 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm
MAGMA, 11 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA
Suggested Donation: $5 online or at the door
Registration link: https://momence.com/MAGMA/Sunday-Salon/117548729

Join us for the Sunday Salon with Miranda Aisling and Heather Atwood at MAGMA in Gloucester. During this monthly salon series, attendees are invited to engage in thoughtful, enriching conversations with fellow creatives across Cape Ann. The aim is to create an inspiring, convivial space to foster creativity in our region. Whether you’re a long-time practicing artist or enthusiastically art-adjacent, we welcome you to join in the conversation.

Susan Erony and Nubar Alexanian will present their visual work. Jay Jaroslav will be our presenting writer.

*If it’s just too hot, we will postpone until September.

Duncan Dance Workshop Series
2025-08-07 18:00 - 19:00 | MA
The choreographic études of Isadora Duncan explore, through the action/rest continuum, the dynamic relationship between affiliation and solitude. Celebrating nature’s unity and rhythm, these dances, remembering ancient rituals and archetypes, are simultaneously earthly and divine. The indomitable human spirit, ever hopeful is present in this choreography and in all true healing. Isadora Duncan’s goal for the “the highest intelligence in the freest body”: that every living child might have available to them, the birthright of beauty, strength, and freedom.”
$20, Summer Workshop 4-pack for $70 (good for Body-Voice-Rhythm, Duncan Dance, and Contact Improvisation) SIGN UP
Thursdays 6-7pm
July 17 – Beauty
July 24 – Freedom
July 31 – Beauty
August 7 – Nurturing

Isadora Duncan, the Mother of Modern Dance (1887-1927) sought movements that were expressive of the spirit. In the first decades of the 20th century, she won international acclaim, commanding attention from artists, scholars, and intellectuals on her tours through major cities of Europe, Russia, and the United states. Rejecting the toe shoes, courses, and gender stereotypes of ballet, she sought to clear the way for a dance of the future, one which would be not a diversion but a religion, an expression of life sounds life”.

Youth workshop - Ballet Boost
2025-08-11 11:00 - 13:00 | MA
Ballet Boost is for youth ages 6-13, a mini Ballet intensive to inspire your child in the art of ballet. Learn fun, challenging steps, work on strength and range of motion, and get into storytelling through dance by learning dances from the classic story ballets. Ideal for Beginner to Intermediate students. Meets Monday through Thursday 11am-1pm
SIGN UP

Body-Voice-Rhythm
2025-08-21 17:00 - 18:00 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
Body-Voice-Rhythm!
July 10, 17, and all Thursdays in August 5-6pm
$20 per class, Summer Workshop 4-pack for $70 (good for Body-Voice-Rhythm, Duncan Dance, and Contact Improvisation) SIGN UP
An interactive and energetic romp of movement, body percussion and voice, exploring rhythm and a little bit of pitch. A music class through movement! A dance class through music! Open to all levels of experience.
Dawn Pratson is a dancer-choreographer, flutist and singer, with a background in creative arts in therapy. Since the late 1990’s she has been learning and teaching in the international Dalcroze Eurhythmics community. She has many years of teaching experience, from early childhood through older adults. More at dawnpratson.com

Beginner Contact Improvisation Series
2025-08-21 19:00 - 20:15 | MA
Today is the final class in our series! Explore the basics of weight sharing, points of contact, spiraling and more. All experience levels are welcome! Led by Sarah Slifer Swift.
$20 for a single class, or buy a Summer Workshop 4-pack for $70 (good for Body-Voice-Rhythm, Duncan Dance, and Contact Improvisation)
SIGN UP

Folk Week 2025: Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band
2025-08-27 19:30 - 21:30 | MA
Folk Week 2025
The Cape Ann Guitar Society is excited to announce four nights of music where we showcase some of our area’s most unique musical voices in a variety of special venues on Cape Ann. Our diversity is our strength – get to know the folk music of the Puerto Rican countryside, Jewish celebrations, the Emerald Isle, Cape Ann maritime tradition, and modern Americana.

Opening Night:
Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band
Wednesday, August 27th, 7:30 pm at MAGMA
Tickets: $15
https://www.capeannguitarsociety.org/folk-week-2025

Boston based internationally-acclaimed Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band brings passion, virtuosity, and contagious energy to every performance. The Wheels improvise with the intimacy of chamber music and the intensity of a rowdy dance band. Klezmer is a Hebrew word, a combination of the words “kley” (vessel) and “zemer” (melody) that referred to musical instruments in ancient times. It became colloquially attached to Jewish folk musicians sometime in the Middle Ages. Working under various restrictions in different centuries and cultures, Jewish musicians (klezmorim) developed their own unique style out of a variety of local musical styles. Figuring most prominently are Ottoman Turkish modes and Balkan gypsy and clarinet stylings. While “klezmer” referred originally only to instrumental music played by clarinets, violins, basses and tsimbaloms (hammer dulcimers), it has come to mean Yiddish vocal music as well, encompassing both folk songs and music from the Yiddish theater, which thrived in the early 20th century in both Warsaw and New York.

Rehearsing the Unknown: Collective Improvisation Techniques
2025-09-06 13:00 - 16:00 | MA
An improvisational dance workshop
Time: 1-4pm Cost: $50 SIGN UP
4pm Free informal performance, open to the public
Workshop Description
Michael Joviala and Dawn Pratson take participants through a typical rehearsal of their performance collective, Locomotors, an improvising group which weaves together the separate ecologies of somatic awareness, Dalcroze eurhythmics and the jazz tradition of open-form improvisation, sometimes known as ‘free jazz’. Engage with improvised music in specific ways such as going with/going against; resisting/accepting; leading/following; supporting/countering; beginning and ending in order to improvise spontaneous long-form structures in music and dance. The workshop will culminate in an improvised performance centered around one of the group’s compositions.
Locomotors is a collaborative music and dance group rooted in the the practice of Dalcroze Eurhythmics and open-form improvisation, with a special focus on the somatic relationship between sound and movement. The core members are pianist and composer Michael Joviala, and dancer and choreographer Dawn Pratson.
Biographies
Michael Joviala, DMA is a composer/improviser/performer and teacher in New York City. He holds the Diplôme Supérieur from the Institute Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland and directs the Professional Studies Program for Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Lucy Moses School in New York. In addition, he works with students of all ages at the Diller-Quaile School of Music, The Dalcroze School of Music and Movement, Columbia University and offers workshops.
Dawn Pratson is a dancer, musician, choreographer and educator with a background in creative arts in therapy. Formal training includes a BA in music and dance, a master’s degree in dance/movement therapy and a license in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. She was the founding music specialist at the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures charter school in Philly. Currently she teaches and performs with Michael Joviala in the group Locomotors, and on a free-lance basis, dividing her time between Philadelphia and Cape Ann, MA. More at dawnpratson.com

I Am
2025-09-27 19:00 - 20:00 | MA
I Am
Dance performance from Expressive Arts Dance Company, dir. Michelle Dalton
Saturday September 27, 7pm
Michelle Dalton, longtime dancer with Ina Hahn/Windhover Dance Company and Deborah Abel Dance Company, is bringing “I Am” to MAGMA, inspired by the Celine Dion documentary. This is a family friendly dance performance, with an intergenerational cast.
Tickets: $15 BUY NOW

Body Confidence with Whitney Way Thore
2025-10-09 19:00 - 21:00 | MA
A beginner-level dance class followed by a meet and greet with Whitney Way Thore!
This event is SOLD OUT
We are offering the class via Zoom – sign up for Zoom here

Body Confidence with Whitney Way Thore
2025-10-10 20:00 - 22:00 | MA
A beginner-level dance class followed by a meet and greet with Whitney Way Thore!
SOLD OUT
We are offering the class via Zoom on Thursday 10/9 at 7pm – sign up for Zoom here

Ecstatic Dance with EIR
2025-10-11 18:30 - 21:00 | MA
Ecstatic Dance featuring musical artist EIR
Saturday October 11, 7:00-9:00pm
$25-35 sliding scale BUY TIX

Ecstatic Dance at Magma
Have we forgotten, through all the doing, how to simply be?
Have we, in our endless pursuit, lost touch with true pleasure?
In the heat of summer’s fires, has the centrifugal force catapulted us out of the body and into the future?
Now, as the wheel turns, we arrive at the apex of autumn—a season when shadows, rivers, and lakes of the subconscious call us to return, return, return…to dance with them.
We’ve moved forward, yes. But with this new growth comes an invitation: to welcome the darkness still alive in our depths—for healing, movement, alchemy, bliss, and pleasure.
Come dance with us in this liminal season, when the veil grows thin and the walk between worlds becomes dreamlike. Together, let us enter the heart of the womb of night and—with curiosity—discover all that waits to be revealed.
Because from shadow comes light…
Music by Eir — weaving sounds from etheric downtempo to world beats & house.
Tea lounge + altar space provided (bring your own cup + an item for the altar if you wish).
Dress to move (comfy or festive!) | flow toys welcome.
All ages: children 12 & under free | ages 13+ are $10 donation.
Sliding scale tickets: $25–35 → [ticket link here]
Saturday, october 11
Magma, Gloucester
6:45–9 PM
Dance Schedule:
≫ 6:45 – Gather + Stretch
≫ 7:00 – Opening Circle
≫ 7:15 – Ecstatic Dance
≫ 8:45 – Closing Meditation
≫ 9:00 – End
Join a beautiful community in a space designed for movement. Let the music and the season sweep you into a world of inspiration, healing, and embodied magic.

Rock Show
2025-10-18 19:00 - 22:30 | MA
PlannComm events presents:
@2to1ska @hedgebandma @thelebarons and The Chip Rockers !
This is truly a north shore delight! Bring your skanking shoes!
Doors 7pm, $10, All Ages

GloArts Salon
2025-10-19 16:00 - 18:00 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
Sunday, October 19, 2025 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm
MAGMA, 11 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA
Suggested Donation: $5-10 online or at the door
Join us for the GloArts Salon at MAGMA! We’ll kick off with two short quick works-in-progress presentations by Miranda Aisling and Lesley Davison followed by open creative discussions.

Whether you’re a long-time practicing artist or enthusiastically art-adjacent, we hope you’ll join in the conversation.

Closet Case: I'm Scared!
2025-10-24 19:00 - 23:00 | MA
Join the Closet Case crew for a ghoulish night of Drag, Burlesque, Dance, and Music. Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
TIX $20 : BUY NOW

Workshop: The Body Remembers, The Body Rewrites
2025-10-25 13:00 - 15:00 | MA
What happens when we begin to question the beliefs we’ve always carried? The Body Remembers, The Body Rewrites is an interactive workshop where movement, reflection, and conversation meet. Participants will be invited to look inward and reflect on what they identify with, what they believe, and what they are reaching for. Together, we will explore the process of unraveling deeply ingrained beliefs – or reflect on ones you have already undone.
Open to both movers and non-movers, the session offers multiple ways to participate—through gentle movement, gesture, writing, observation, and discussion. Together, we will explore:

How ingrained beliefs and values live in our bodies
What it feels like to disrupt and unravel them
How we might reimagine and rebuild new ways of being

Please bring a journal, water, and movable clothes.
Cost: $0-23 sliding scale PURCHASE HERE
Accessible to all: No dance experience required; movement options range from full-body expression to subtle gestures. This workshop is pay what you can: no one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you do not see a price point listed or available that you can afford, please email administrator Kristin Wagner at kristincooperwagner@gmail.com.
Building Access: MAGMA is located on the top floor of the Brown Building. A physically accessible entrance is located through Brown’s Mall: take the door to the right of the main entrance or via 186 Main Street, and then take the elevator to the fifth floor.
This community workshop is related to The Click’s performance project Undone, directed by Katrina Conte. Undone is an alternative cabaret-style that unravels tightly bound convictions of the self and encourages a reflective reclaiming of one’s identity through moving performances of poetry, song and dance. Undone will premier informally in MAGMA at 7:30pm following the workshop. Tickets are available for purchase via The Click’s Eventbrite profile. This workshop is made possible in part by a grant from the Gloucester Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
About the Facilitator:
KATRINA CONTE (she/her) is a dance artist and choreographer. She was raised in Mt Pocono PA, but has been creating and dancing in Boston for 3 years. Katrina graduated with her BFA in Dance with a minor in Technical Theater from Ball State University. Since moving to Boston, she has performed with Kairos Dance Theater, Liquid Spine, Alive Dance Collective, and Eliza Malecki. She currently is working with Human Movement Project, and The Click, she couldn’t be more excited to dance and create with these inspiring artists.

Undone
2025-10-25 19:30 - 20:30 | MA
UNDONE by Katrina Conte/the Click Boston
Undone is a multidisciplinary performance project that makes way for new perspectives on growth and transformation. A tapestry of live poetry, song, and contemporary dance, the project unravels tightly bound ideas, traditions, and convictions as it identifies the many incubators that shape our internal selves.
Featuring poetry written and performed by Noah Phoenix, an original musical score created and performed by Pearl Scott, and contemporary dance solos performed by The Click collaborators Angelina Benitez, Katrina Conte, Alexandria Nunweiler and Kristin Wagner.
TIX $0-30 sliding scale PURCHASE HERE
Undone is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation, and the Gloucester Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

dance workshop: letting things catch fire
2025-11-01 13:00 - 18:30 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
letting things catch fire – a little house workshop
During this workshop, we will court transformation through sensation, attention, and imagination. Working with guided visualizations and extended sensorial meditations, we will tune to the subtle, looking for the edges of impulse, image, and intention. What ignites our movement? What burns away? What remains?
Participants will engage in various improvisation exercises and tasked based work aimed at engaging their compositional mind. Using different modalities and exercises from choreographer Heather Stewart’s creative process we will build a movement score together over the course of two days.
By allowing curiosity and risk to lead, we’ll explore interference as a strategy for change, letting accidents, friction, and desire shape our choices. The aim is to let things catch fire, to interrupt impulses, to stay with things until they shift.
Workshop is November 1 & 2
November 1 from 1-6:30pm
November 2 from 10am-4pm
(one day options are possible, please inquire)
Sliding scale $125-185 CLICK HERE
Participants of the workshop are invited, but not required, to perform the score at MAGMA on November 14 & 15 for the MAGMA Showcase.

Founded by Heather Stewart (she/they) in 2020, little house is a professional dance company established on principles of democratic process, collaboration, sustainability, and high caliber dance performance in service of a strong arts ecosystem in Maine. After several years of working as an independent artist Heather established little house in order to formalize her collaborative relationships with other dancers, musicians, visual artists, and writers. As an organization, little house exists to challenge the notion that quality dance can only arise in cities that have already been categorized as designated dance hubs.
Exploring human disorder and melancholy, little house dance draws viewers into dark and intimate worlds of movement ritual and duration. Movement vocabulary is created and performed with a clear, rigorous approach to choreography and performance presence. little house dance creates work for audiences who are invested in seeing performance that stretches the boundaries of movement potential while touching on experiences that are uniquely human.

Rock Show
2025-11-01 19:30 - 22:30 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States

Dance Performance: fleshwound
2025-11-08 19:00 - 20:00 | MA
fleshwound:
an evening w/ myles kercher & guests
7pm sat, november 8th
$15 admission BUY NOW

Autumn Song Swap
2025-11-09 18:00 - 20:00 | MA
BUY TICKETS
Local singer-songwriters Miranda Aisling, Matt Jenson, and Kara Kulpa are coming together at MAGMA to trade songs and stories. Join them on Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 6:00 pm.
Tickets are available on a sliding scale from $10 – 30 both online and at the door, ensuring everyone has access to this community event. All ticket holders receive equal entry, guests are encouraged to support as they are able.
MIRANDA AISLING
Miranda Aisling (ash-lean)’s mission is to reconnect art to daily life, a purpose you can see through her work as an interdisciplinary artist, community organizer, and creative entrepreneur. Using an art degree from Mary Baldwin University focusing on painting, pottery, and piano and an education degree from Lesley University focusing on community art, Miranda is a professional artist and community arts consultant. Her original folk songs blend frank vulnerability with insightful social commentary. A classically trained pianist who shifted from Bach to the Indigo Girls, she brings the lively spirit of a folk festival to her performances, engaging audiences with a mix of sung and spoken storytelling.
MATT JENSON
Growing up in rural New Hampshire (USA) injected Matt with a deep spiritual connection communicated by the simplicity, beauty and truth of nature. As a child he had the opportunity to visit extended family in Boston and with that cultural exposure, he fell in love with the musical styles of the African diaspora: Jazz, Blues, Reggae and Afro-Latin music. Later as a young man with a penchant for seeking the deeper understanding of life, he became extremely interested in the socio-political-economic and psychological-emotional conditions of human-kind. This, combined with his intense creative drive, provides the bedrock for nearly all of Matt’s artistic output as a talented keyboardist, singer, composer, arranger, educator and producer. He has been on the piano faculty at Berklee College of Music (20+ years) and teaches, among various labs and one-on-one piano lessons, an entire class on Bob Marley. He’s been performing regionally with his Latin and Reggae bands (Mix Up Mix Up, Combo Sabroso, the Liquid Revolution, Rebel Tumbao) and touring, composing and recording with the internationally acclaimed reggae-jazz fusion band, Groundation (2018-2022, the One Rock album). His current musical project brings him back to his love of simplicity, beauty and nature with “Unmarked Routes”, an ambient, neoclassical, dub piano with electronics project, soon to be releasing a new album.
KARA KULPA
“Poetic and soulful” and “A riotously fun time” are just a couple of ways folks have described singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Kara Kulpa. Since the release of her initial EP, Any Given Day, in May of 2005, Kulpa has toured the country as a solo act as well as in conjunction with various other acts. She has shared the stage with nationally recognized artists including Rufus Wainwright and Eddie Money and made a name for herself as a “go to sideman” for those local to or passing through Boston. House of Abundant Kindness House Concert Series said, “Kara Kulpa has a charm and personality that make you want to be her best friend…” Don’t miss the opportunity to see this seasoned and entertaining performer live.

MAGMA Showcase
2025-11-14 19:30 - 21:00 | MA
MAGMA Showcase is our annual performance fundraiser, featuring our adult dance program. Choreographers include Hannah Tupper & Zoe Ulrich, Sophia Dunzelman, Laura Dow, Dawn Pratson, Jillian Chavez-Oliveira, and Sarah Slifer Swift!
Come celebrate our amazing community of dancers and makers. All proceeds go to support MAGMA, enabling MAGMA to best support artists!
Tickets are $15-25 suggested donation BUY HERE
For Saturday Nov 15 show, BUY HERE

MAGMA Showcase
2025-11-15 19:30 - 21:00 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
MAGMA Showcase is our annual performance fundraiser, featuring our adult dance program. Choreographers include Hannah Tupper & Zoe Ulrich, Sophia Dunzelman, Laura Dow, Dawn Pratson, Jillian Chavez-Oliveira, and Sarah Slifer Swift.
Come celebrate our amazing community of dancers and makers. All proceeds go to support MAGMA, enabling MAGMA to best support artists!
Tickets are $15-25 suggested donation BUY NOW

SING
2025-11-21 18:15 - 19:30 | MA
SING meets every 3rd Friday of the month from 6:15-7:30pm
Led by Lisa Bouchie, SING uses a variety of improvisational structures to jump right into the joy of singing with others. No musical experience necessary, all are welcome!
Suggested donation $10-15, pay at the door, no advance registration required

The Crystal
2025-11-23 16:00 - 18:00 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
The Crystal is a contemplative dance practice using Authentic Movement, in which the mover becomes the oracle and the witnesses reflect and refract using silence, sound, movement and automatic writing. A profound experience of vulnerability, intimacy and connection.
suggested donation $10-20

Contact Improvisation Jam
2025-12-06 13:00 - 15:00 | MA
Monthly CI jams, facilitated by Sarah Slifer Swift and guests, plus live music
Saturdays 1:00-3:00pm
January Jam will be on New Year’s Day 2-4pm
Next date, February 14 1-3pm
$10-20 suggested donation SIGN UP ONLINE

Latin Dance Social
2025-12-07 18:00 - 20:00 | MA
MAGMA welcomes Andres Giraldo from Salsa y Control dance studio and company for a one hour beginner salsa class followed by practice time. Lesson starts at 6pm, open dancing time is from 7-8pm.
Entry is $10-15, sliding scale – BUY ONLINE NOW, or at the door
MAGMA is on the top floor of the Brown Building at 11 Pleasant Street in Gloucester, a beautiful historic ballroom with ocean views.
All levels welcome, no partner required. Feel free to bring drinks as we do not sell any beverages.

Drawn to Life: Embodied Practice Through Movement and Mark Making
2025-12-13 15:30 - 17:30 | MA
Drawn to Life: Embodied Practice Through Movement and Mark Making

An exploration and celebration of movement through the mediums of drawing and dance. Participants will be guided through exercises designed to enhance expression and depiction of movement through pose exploration and simple drawing exercises.

Appropriate for movers, artists, and humans of all backgrounds; no technical training required.

Facilitated by Jeremy Frias, $10-20 suggested donation. SIGN UP NOW or at the door

Please feel free to email jeremyfrias@gmail.com with any questions and/or accommodation requests.

Concert: Love Blast
2025-12-21 17:00 - 19:00 | MA
Join the group Love Blast with Greta Bro on vocals, Mitchell Kossak on piano, Fud on bass, Ricardo Frota on violin and percussion, and Nicholas Suchecki on Sax for a Solstice Celebration and Holiday Concert, Sunday, December 21, 5-7pm.
Love Blast is a collective a musicians from the Boston region who seek to uplift people and help transform culture and consciousness through their soulful explorations of music. Their concerts blend vocal and instrumental improvisation with popular and original compositions that draw on Soul, jazz fusion and world music.
Let’s welcome the return of light with dancing, celebration and a blast of love! There will be plenty of seats and also plenty of room for dancing!
Tickets Sliding scale $15-30 BUY NOW

ElektroCabaret: That's a Wrap
2025-12-27 20:00 - 23:00 | MA
$10 cover at the door
DJs Snackzilla and Salomon plus performances and surprises
bring you own refreshments as we will be dancing hard

Ecstatic Dance - Transformations
2025-12-30 19:00 - 21:00 | MA
Join us for a symbolic, intentional journey of transformation through dance, reflection, costume, and play. As we near the new year, we give ourselves the space to reflect on what we can let go of, what we want to celebrate, and what we want to manifest in the future. We transform energy and experience within us to grow the seeds of our own becoming.
The evening starts with an opening circle, followed by Authentic Movement, and then opens up into Ecstatic Dance. Costumes help us embody the spirit of transformation, letting us shift our energy through the night. We will finish with a closing circle.
There will be a place for stretching, journaling, tarot.
Cost $10-20 suggested donation BUY NOW
SCHEDULE:
6:45pm doors open
7pm opening circle
7:10-7:20 Authentic Movement
7:20-8:50 Ecstatic Dance
8:50 Closing Circle/Meditation
9pm end
