Wild Geese Dance Therapy Group begins
2026-05-01 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Wild Geese: Dance Therapy Group
Community, Resilience, Support, Freedom
Kim Tompkins will be leading a Dance Therapy support group at MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA on Fridays from 11:00 to 12:30, May 1st through 22nd. Dance Movement therapy allows you to explore mind-body awareness, creative expression and rhythmic connection to give shape to your thoughts and feelings. In sharing the journey with others, the group is here to help you navigate the stuck places and hard changes that may be facing you now.
Bring your curiosity and wear something comfortable. For adults with or without any formal dance training.
Led by Kim Tompkins, licensed mental health counselor and board certified, Masters level Dance Movement Therapist. Kim is also a certified facilitator of Trauma Sensitive Yoga. The price is $170 for the 4 week session. For questions and registration, please send email to KimTompkinsHolistic@gmail.com.

Full Moon Dance
2026-05-01 18:30 - 20:30
Join Raquel and Osha for an evening of movement, connection, and renewal under the full moon. We’ll begin with a grounding meditation to help you arrive and settle into your body, followed by a guided warm-up that gently opens into embodied movement and free-form dance. We’ll close the evening in song, then gather for tea and light bites to integrate and connect.
Meditation & Dance Facilitated by Raquel DaRowe, Osha Rose and special guest, Sarah Slifer Swift
GET TICKETS via Osha Rose Events

From the Deep Festival
2026-05-02 11:00 - 17:00 | The Cut, 177 Main Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
Explore the depths of art and culture in the city of Gloucester during “From the Deep: A Downtown Gloucester Arts Party” on Saturday, May 2 from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm!

MAGMA is collaborating with the Cut to present filmmaker (and MAGMA Dance Company member!) Erika Sutter’s stunning movement and shadow film in an immersive underwater installation. The installation will be on view from 11am-5pm at the Cut.

Presented by the Harbortown Cultural District, this event features over 25 unique cultural events including: 7 art exhibitions, 4 musical performances, 3 video installations, 2 live art demonstrations, free kids activities and scavenger hunts! See the full schedule of cultural events and plan your day at: www.harbortownculturaldistrict.org

Aaron Wardwell record release
2026-05-08 19:00 - 21:30
featuring performances by Bryan Parys, Steven Kennedy, and the (Christmas) Coyotes
Singer-songwriter Aaron Wardwell will celebrate the release of his new album, Just Another, with a live performance on May 8th at MAGMA in Gloucester. The show will feature a full set of new material from Just Another, Wardwell’s first significant release since his EP Heartburn in 2020.
The new record showcases Aaron Wardwell’s eclectic blend of folk and electronic music with deeply witty, yet poignant songwriting, exploring themes of literature, horticulture, pop-culture, love, religiosity and more. The album was recorded and produced in Wardwell’s home studio, and it was mastered by engineer Frank Hopkins of Portland, Maine. The release date of the album is Friday, May 1st, 2026.
The album release show on May 8th will be a full immersion in the images and sounds of “Just Another.” In addition to playing the songs live, there will also be video textures shown with a projector. The show will be opened by performances from local writers Bryan Parys (Wake, Sleeper, Now Approaching), Steven Kennedy (Between Sounds, Birds Of Massachusetts), and soundscape engineer/songwriter Joshua Richard (Home Music).

Time Travelers Ball
2026-05-09 19:00 - 22:00
Please join us for MAGMA’s annual fundraiser party with live performances, participatory dance lessons, and festive refreshments.
Attire: 1920-1940 speakeasy fashion
Doors open at 7pm, programming starts at 7:30pm
$50-100 suggested donation per person, BUY ONLINE
Please buy your tickets in ADVANCE as you will need the password to get in!
Highlights:
– learn The Charleston and a Shim Sham inspired line dance
– dance performances from Sophia Dunzelman, Zoe Ulrich, Anna Kharaz, Erika Sutter, Hannah Tupper, and Sarah Slifer Swift; live music from John Cameron and Rikki Razdan
– sultry, speakeasy ambiance; signature cocktails and yummy desserts
– support MAGMA’s artistic programming, accessible pricing, and youth scholarship fund! MAGMA annually has up to ten students on either full scholarship or half-tuition scholarships. For MAGMA’s adult programming, we have drastically reduced rates for rental and class rates for artists and non-profits.

Face Yoga Face Moisturizing
2026-05-10 14:00 - 15:30
Come to MAGMA on Mother’s Day to practice face moisturizing and face yoga with Holly Randall, DNP.
Bring your mother, bring your daughter, or just celebrate yourself!
Sunday May 10, 2-3:15pm
suggested donation $10-20 at the door

Contact Improvisation Jam
2026-05-16 15:00 - 17:00
Our monthly Contact Improvisation Jam consists of a half hour warm-up and skills practice, followed by open improvisation. All experience levels are welcome! This month we have guest musicians Dawn Pratson and Steve Yost.
$10-20 suggested donation SIGN UP ONLINE or at the door
“Contact Improvisation is an evolving system of movement initiated in 1972 by American choreographer Steve Paxton. The improvised dance form is based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia. The body, in order to open to these sensations, learns to release excess muscular tension and abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Practice includes rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, supporting and giving weight to a partner.”
“Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges. Alertness is developed in order to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation, trusting in one’s basic survival instincts. It is a free play with balance, self-correcting the wrong moves and reinforcing the right ones, bringing forth a physical/emotional truth about a shared moment of movement that leaves the participants informed, centered, and enlivened.”
—early definition by Steve Paxton and others, 1970s,
from CQ Vol. 5:1, Fall 1979

Tango-Salsa-Cha Cha
2026-05-17 17:00 - 19:00
Learn some easy dance moves with Sarah Slifer Swift at MAGMA and then dance to tango, salsa, and cha-cha music played live by the Walker Creek Saxophone Quartet (David Benjamin, Marsha Jamison, Frank Freedman, and Jamie Klopotoski).

$10 suggested donation at the door

All ages and abilities welcome!

Outlaw Championship Wrestling
2026-05-23 18:00 - 21:30
OCW presents Riders in the Sky.
Doors 6pm, Bell 6:30pm
Get your tickets before they are gone!!
GET TICKETS $20

The Crystal
2026-05-24 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, pay at the event or ONLINE HERE

Pride Blast Off: The Illustrious Blacks at the Cut
2026-05-30 20:00 - 23:30
Sat, May 30, 2026 8:00 PM
The Cut, 177 Main Street. Gloucester MA (map)

Blast off into Pride month with the Illustrious Blacks, NYC’s Afro-Electro-Disco-Space-Punks here to deliver you into intergalactic ecstasy! With special guest Dr. Viola Voilà and a set by DJ Salomon. Presented by Cape Ann Pride & MAGMA
Saturday 5/30/26
Doors 7:00pm
Show 8:00pm
21+, Positive ID Required
Premium Seating with cocktail service: $39.50 + $6.95 service fee
Standard Seating with cocktail service: $34.50 + $6.95 service fee
GA Standing: $24.50 + $6.95 service fee
BUY NOW
+ $5 Day of Show
Blast off into Pride month with the Illustrious Blacks, NYC’s Afro-Electro-Disco-Space-Punks here to deliver you into intergalactic ecstasy! The duo the New York Times called “Bed-Stuy’s favorite creative couple” grace the clubs of Ibiza, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, UK, and Canada with their blend of DJing, performance art, and live music tracks …. and now they return after their jaw-dropping Gloucester debut last year for the Cape Ann Pride Weekend. Hostess extraordinaire Dr. Viola Voila will tantalize with her captivating performances and keep the party vibes flowing. DJ opener Salomon delivers deep, danceable tracks to get the party started.
Dr. Viola Voilà (she/her in drag) or Dr. Kasey Calebaugh (he/him out of drag) enjoys a wide range of musical endeavors as a violist, Suzuki music educator, and drag entertainer. They completed a Doctorate of Music Arts degree in Viola Performance from the Hartt School, graduating with the Regents’ Honor Award – the most prestigious award that the University of Hartford bestows on graduate students. They regularly film drag story hours and interview local residents at Ipswich Community Access Media, perform with the Cape Ann Symphony and Nonconformist Orchestra (the first and only transgender/non-binary, LGBTQ+ and minority inclusive professional orchestra), and serve on the Ipswich Cultural Council Board. As an active LGBTQ+ professional, they have been invited to speak at numerous high schools, perform for Hamilton-Wenham HRC Pride Picnic, World Pride DC 2025, & actively produce content with the Trustees.

Urban Pulse with Monstah Black
2026-05-31 14:00 - 15:15
Urban Pulse is a rhythm-driven yoga and movement experience guided by Movement Artist Monstah Black, where mindful body awareness meets expressive, music-led motion.

This class blends a grounded vinyasa-inspired flow with elements of somatic exploration and freestyle movement, inviting students to arrive at a plateau of liberated expression, where structure dissolves into intuitive, embodied play. Breath and beat work together to warm the body, open the joints, and encourage participants to move beyond habitual patterns into authentic physical presence.

Set to curated soundscapes ranging from soulful grooves to Afro dance rhythms, Urban Pulse feels like a barefoot dance floor held within a safe, intentional container. The experience is energizing yet accessible, offering release without overwhelm, designed to leave students feeling both awakened and regulated.

Outcome: Participants leave grounded, open, creatively charged, and connected to their bodies, their breath, and their own rhythm.
$20 BUY NOW or at the door

ABOUT MONSTAH BLACK (They/Them)
200-hour Certified Vinyasa Yoga Instructor Monstah Black has been in a relationship with movement for over 40 years, 13 of those rooted in yoga, and the past 8 guiding others as a certified instructor. Their practice lives at the intersection of structure and freedom, inviting students not just to stretch and lengthen, but to feel, listen, and drop into the body’s deeper language.
Their classes are a somatic journey, where the vertical meets the floor, where effort softens into release, and where movement becomes expression. Monstah encourages practitioners to move beyond shape and into sensation, cultivating a fluid, intuitive experience that honors each body’s unique rhythm.
With a background in performance spanning sound, movement, and visual art, Monstah weaves rich, imaginative visualization into their offerings. These tools ripple outward, supporting not just rest and meditation, but creative expression on the dance floor, on stage, and in everyday life.
Music is central to Monstah’s practice. Breath and sound become collaborators, holding space for exploration, release, and transformation. Their teaching blends asana with somatic release techniques, guiding students toward a place of dynamic, freestyle movement and improvisation (Urban Pulse).
Outside the studio, Monstah channels that same electric, embodied energy into performance as one half of The Illustrious Blacks, sharing their artistry across festivals, nightclubs, and museums around the world.

Contra Dance
2026-06-19 19:00 - 21:30 | MAGMA, 11 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA, 01930, United States
Easy to Learn New England Style Contra, Square & Circle Dances
with Caller Rose Sheehan, and musicians George Clements and Nathaniel Diamond-Jones
$15-25 sliding scale per person, notaflof, under 16 free
BUY TIX ONLINE (available soon) Tix will also be available at the door.

Alexander Technique for Dancers
2026-06-20 11:30 - 13:00
INTRO TO THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE FOR DANCERS
with Larry Young, AmSat certified teacher
In this 90-minute introductory workshop, dancers will learn core AT principles and basic anatomy to help release chronic tension, improve dynamic alignment, and prevent injury. Discover how to enhance your stage presence and execute movement with grace and efficiency.
• Redefine Your Technique: Learn to stop habitual, unnecessary muscular gripping so you can direct your energy exactly where it needs to go.
• Injury Prevention: Understand your natural biomechanics and how to protect joints during high-impact sequences and demanding choreography.
• Unleash Expression: Shift your focus from “looking right in the mirror” to the organic process of moving, granting your body greater emotional and theatrical range. We will explore how to move more in accordance with the way the body is actually designed.
Workshop Details • Date & Time: Saturday, June 20 | 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
• Location: MAGMA, Gloucester, MA
• Cost: $20 in advance, $25 day-of
BUY NOW
About Larry Young:
Larry is an AmSat certified teacher, completing training in 1992. The American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) is the largest professional organization of teachers of the Alexander Technique in the United States. Larry came to study this technique thirty years ago to learn how to become comfortable in his body and to help improve his violin playing and singing, but quickly discovered that using it also greatly improved mental attitude as well. He has studied with the late Marjorie Barstow, who was the first person to graduate from F.M. Alexander’s first teacher training program in 1933 as well as with numerous second generation teachers including Nelly Ben-Or, Mara Sokolsky, Bruce Fertman, Betsy Polatin, Jessica Wolf, Barbara Conable, and David Gorman. Larry is currently studying with Penelope Easten.

Drawn to Life
2026-06-21 15:00 - 17:00
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.

Latin Dance Social
2026-07-19 18:00 - 20:00
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.
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES: The Salsa y Control performance team will be there to perform, showcasing their latest routines they are readying for the Boston Salsa Festival.
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.

Jeannette Neill's Day of Dance
2026-08-08 - 2026-08-09
Once again, we are excited to have Jeannette Neill back at MAGMA – Movement Arts Gloucester to offer classes with such a fabulous faculty in such a beautiful studio space!
This year, we will also be presenting an informal, in studio performance on Saturday, August 8, 2026 featuring works by: Sarah Slifer Swift, Laura Dow, Jeannette Neill, and The OYT Dancers
AUGUST 8 SCHEDULE

3:30pm – 5:00pmHORTON TECHNIQUE (Intermediate/Advanced) with Jim Viera, $30 per person

6:00pm – 7:30pmIN-STUDIO PERFORMANCE ​Featuring a performance by The OYT Dance Company, $5 suggested donation per person
AUGUST 9 SCHEDULE​

9:00am – 10:00amACTIVE STRETCH (All Levels) with Sarah Slifer Swift, $15 per person

10:00am – 11:45amJAZZ (Intermediate) with Jeannette Neill, $30 per person

12:00pm – 1:00pmTAP (Beginner / Intermediate) with Laura Dow, $15 per person

1:15pm – 2:45pm

LYRICAL JAZZ (Intermediate) with Sue Murray, $30 per person

For more information, contact Jeannette at jeannette@jndance.com.​​
(Cash, Check and Venmo @jeannette-neill accepted)
​ ** FREE Sunday parking at all street meters and parking lots in Gloucester! **
