Flyaway Productions' 30th Anniversary
Thirty Years of Dance as Resistance, Art as Justice
As we celebrate three decades of Flyaway Productions, we reflect on a journey that began with a radical vision: that dance could be a force for justice, that art could challenge systems of oppression, and that creativity could flourish in unexpected places.
For thirty years, Flyaway has embodied this belief. We make dance that pulls you up—literally and figuratively. Our work is site specific, off the ground and justice driven, transforming the sides of buildings, abandoned lots, and forgotten corners of our cities into stages for hope and resistance. We have danced above streets marked by inequality, where discarded needles and unhoused bodies tell the story of systemic failure. In these spaces, we create beauty, demand attention, and insist on the dignity of all people.
We make dance through an intersectional feminist lens, understanding that all liberation is connected—that gender justice cannot exist without racial justice, that economic equity cannot be separated from bodily autonomy. This lens has shaped not only our artistic vision but our organizational culture, our hiring practices, and our commitment to creating safe, equitable workspaces for all.
Our conviction that the criminal legal system must change has driven some of our most powerful work, including The Decarceration Trilogy: Dismantling the Prison Industrial Complex One Dance at a Time (2017-2023). Through art, we have challenged a system that criminalizes poverty, perpetuates racial injustice, and breaks apart communities.
For us, a building is a witness. Each structure holds the complexity of a neighborhood's history in its "hands," I-beams, or concrete walls. We have learned to read these stories—of displacement and development, of struggle and survival—and to honor them through movement that acknowledges both pain and possibility.
As we look toward the future, we are unapologetic and unwavering. We see our work reflected in today's most pressing challenges: the ongoing struggles for reproductive justice, decareration, the demand for police accountability, gender equity, trans visibility, and the persistent inequities exposed and exacerbated by recent global events. Explicitly, we believe in self determination, a free Palestine and boycott, divestment and sanctions as tools toward that goal. Our commitment to PERFORM in spaces of conflict, TEACH tools of resistance, and ADVOCATE for systemic change remains more urgent than ever.
Thirty years in, we continue to believe in the power of bodies in motion to create change. We continue to lift each other up—defying gravity, defying injustice, defying the notion that art and activism are separate endeavors.
The next thirty years begin now, with our feet firmly planted in community and our bodies reaching toward a more just world.
In solidarity and with deep gratitude for all who have danced, dreamed, and demanded justice with us.
Flyaway Productions Board of Directors
