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POSTCARDS: AVID Dance Presents "BOUNDLESS: Where Ballet's Future Takes Flight"
See It This June 26 - 27, 2025 at Symphony Space
Dates: June 26 and 27, 2025
Time: 8 PM
Location: Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025
Tickets: https://www.symphonyspace.org/events/vp-boundless
My name is Emily Speed, and I didn’t set out to start a dance company. I was just a dancer — like so many others — feeling exhausted and disillusioned. There were so few real opportunities. Not just jobs, but spaces where dancers were actually seen. Where our voices mattered, where we weren’t just bodies executing steps, but full artists with something to say.
One afternoon, I was sitting on a bench in Central Park with a friend, shoes off, legs sore, talking in that way dancers do when we’ve hit a wall. We were trading stories: about auditions that went nowhere, about feeling invisible in the rooms we worked so hard to get into, about the ache of wanting to create and contribute and just… not quite finding the right fit.
I kept circling the same question: “Why does it feel like I’m always waiting for someone to say yes?”
And then it hit me: the kind of quiet clarity that doesn’t shout, but settles in your chest like truth. No one was coming to hand me the opportunity we needed. So maybe… Maybe we had to make it ourselves. I could hear another friend, former Joffrey dancer Valerie Medonia’s voice echoing in my head. She had once told me to do just that, to forge my own opportunities. Her words finally sunk in. All of a sudden it was about creating opportunities not just for myself, but for everyone else out there feeling the same way: talented, passionate, ready — and stuck.
It wasn’t some grand business plan or strategic launch. It was a bench in the park. A conversation between friends. A spark lit by frustration and fanned into something hopeful. That’s where Artistic Ventures in Dance (AVID) was born.
Of course, saying that is one thing. Doing it? A whole other story, especially now, when arts funding feels like it’s evaporating by the day. But the more I talked about the idea, the more I realized just how ready people were for something like AVID. Dancers, mentors, friends — everyone started showing up. A handful of incredible humans helped get AVID off the ground. People gave their time, their energy, their hearts, because they wanted this too. That spirit of collective action, of showing up for each other, is at the heart of what AVID is. It’s why we’ve grown so quickly. It’s why we’re still here.
Then came the question: what kind of work do we actually want to do?
Well… We’re bunheads. Nerdy ones. The kind who will happily spend hours in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts watching grainy VHS tapes of vintage Giselles, tearing up over the tiniest port de bras. We’re the ones arguing over which Jewels section we’d most want to dance (Rubies, obviously). AVID is rooted in that love: the deep, tender kind of love for the tradition, the history, the magic of ballet. That’s why working with organizations like the Gerald Arpino Foundation means the world to us. Performing ballets like Italian Suite or Confetti feels like inheriting your mom’s favorite jewelry — the pieces you’ve admired since you were little and finally get to wear.
But loving ballet doesn’t mean accepting its flaws. So much of the traditional ballet world doesn’t ask dancers what they think. Doesn’t give them space to speak, to create, to lead. That’s what we’re here to change.
At AVID, dancers are collaborators. We work hand-in-hand with choreographers, composers and musicians to build brand new works from the ground up, together. That’s where the heartbeat of AVID lives: in creation, in conversation, in connection. We’re trying to carve out a space where ballet isn’t just preserved, it’s transformed. Where it reflects us, our generation, our voices, and our messy, brilliant, joyful stories.
And that’s what makes this feel so worth fighting for.
AVID was founded in 2023 by Emily Speed with the mission to create art that moves people by making ballet accessible and interesting to today's audiences. The company fosters a collaborative environment where world-class dancers work with some of the most exciting
choreographers of today, while also honoring the history of classical dance by performing legacy works, such as Gerald Arpino's "Confetti".
BOUNDLESS is an onstage tribute to the power of accessible artistic collaboration and will introduce audiences to dance that innovates at the boundaries of classical ballet. We are excited to present Human, a world-premiere by Cherice Barton, with an original score by composer Anne-Marie Keane; an expanded version of Quinn Wharton's crowd favorite, IMPULSE, which was created for AVID in 2024; Alexa Rose Foundation awardee Daniel Ojeda's Persona; and thanks to the generous support of the Gerald Arpino Foundation, Confetti, which AVID will also perform at The Joyce Theater this fall. We are excited to be working once again with Ensemble Mycelium, who will be playing live throughout the program. Both performances will be ASL-interpreted.
Come see what we’re up to and join in the transformation at our upcoming Symphony Space program BOUNDLESS: Where Ballet’s Future Takes Flight on June 26th and 27th at 8 PM. Click HERE for tickets.
We can’t wait to fly with you.
