In 2015, Dayna Hanson, Peggy Piacenza and Dave Proscia founded Base as a creative home they could share with the community. Their values—freedom, experimentation, rigor and grit—pervade the space and inform the Base experience.

In 2017 the Base Occasional was launched, a periodic platform for new work in contemporary dance. The Base Occasional embodied Base’s mission to elevate risk in dance and performance by illuminating the work of artists who are pushing the edges of their disciplines.

Presented in Sept. 2017, the Base Occasional No. 1 featured short works by Dayna Hanson, Heather Kravas, Peggy Piacenza and Maureen Whiting; the Base Occasional No. 2, presented in Nov. 2018, featured Paul Lazar of Big Dance Theater in his solo work, Cage Shuffle; the Base Occasional No. 3, co-presented with On the Boards in Aug. 2019, featured Still Life by Morgan Thorson.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Thorson
[Image description: a dancer with light skin and curly dark hair moves, with both legs apart and bent, and hands moving in gestural motion to their sides. The dancer wears a dark dress, white knee pads, and bare feet. In the background, two more dancers move, one laying on the ground and one standing against the wall, which is illustrated with large drawings of an animal jawbone with teeth and a gun. The floor is light hardwood.]

Photo courtesy of Joseph Lambert
*[Image description: a dancer with light skin and light hair moves in a full body twisting motion. The dancer wears a light blue jumpsuit with brown detailing on the back.]*

During the 2020/2021 season, a digital and hybrid residency program created by Solo Magic and hosted by Base was launched. The Radical Black Femme Project invited a cohort of multi-disciplinary artists across the globe to reimagine joy and rest, and redefine emotional and physical labor from a #RadicalBlackFemme lens.