MIT Theater Arts to Present World Premiere Of CLOSE UP

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Theater Arts will present the world premiere of Close Up, an intimate, evening-length performance by choreographer/dancer Stefanie Batten Bland and composer/violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, at 7:30pm, as part of The Gus Solomons jr. Visiting Artist Series. 

The Friday evening performance will include a post-show conversation with the artists. Close Up will take place at MIT's Theater at W97, 345 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA. 

Close Up brings together three-time Bessie-nominated artist Stefanie Batten Bland and Emmy Award-winning composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain in an intimate new concert of music and dance, where sound and movement entwine to reveal the stories our bodies carry. Conceived as a musical and physical lullaby, the work recreates the immediacy of a speakeasy where the danger and thrill of proximity and truth can cut like a dagger or cradle us with love and acceptance. Blending classical, jazz, créole, and postmodern influences into one expression, Close Up explores deeply rooted cultural narratives shaped by ancestry and memory. Together, Batten Bland and Roumain celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, holding the beauty, humor, horror, and care within each body, and emphasizing the necessity of tenderness in turbulent times. Through this dialogue of bow and body, rhythm and resistance, they build a world both familiar and newly imagined: a sanctuary of sound, sweat, and grace.