Boston Conservatory Heads to Tanglewood This Summer Student dancers and musicians from Boston Conservatory at Berklee will debut a new work by choreographer Ken Ossola with original music by Polle van Genechten on June 21.
By
Sarah Godcher Murphy
June 10, 2025
Boston Conservatory dancers in an April 2025 performance of Ken Ossola's Onward Still
Jim Coleman
Boston Conservatory at Berklee students will take the stage at Tanglewood this June, in collaboration with artists long associated with two world-class dance companies: Under the direction of former Boston Ballet principal dancer John Lam (now associate professor of dance at Boston Conservatory) students will perform a brand new work specially created for them by Lam's friend Ken Ossola, who has worked for decades with Nederlands Dance Theater (NDT) as both a dancer and choreographer.
Ossola's contemplative Onward Still was created for Boston Conservatory dancers in spring 2025 to reflect quiet resilience and movement, and it stands alongside his other acclaimed creations for many of the world's leading dance companies, including NDT, Le Grand Ballet de Gen ve, Boston Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montr al.
This past April, Ossola visited Boston Conservatory for two weeks to create Onward Still with student dancers and prepare them for the world premiere at the Conservatory's Spring Dance Concert: Limitless. On June 21, they will perform the piece a second time at Tanglewood Learning Institute, with live musical accompaniment by instrumentalists and vocalists from Boston Conservatory's Music Division. Original music for the piece was composed by Polle van Genechten with lyrics by Martino M ller, himself a choreographer whose career was launched at Nederlands Dance Theater.
Long a fixture in European contemporary dance, Ossola performed in the original cast of Ji Kyli n's landmark ballet Bella Figura in 1995. Over the decades that followed, he adapted his gift for expressive movement into a career as a choreographer and ballet master. Learning from Ossola directly was a rare chance for students to go straight to the source, Lam says: That type of knowledge is not teachable from someone else. It's like saying, Did you work with Albert Einstein, or did you work with someone that was in the room with Albert Einstein?'
Lam and Ossola's friendship grew from their work together in Boston, where Lam was a principal dancer for 20 years and Ossola launched world premieres of his own choreography as well as restagings of masterworks by his mentor, Kyli n. For Lam's very last performance with Boston Ballet in May 2024, he danced in the world premiere of Ossola's The Space Between.
Choreographer Ken Ossola (foreground) leads Boston Conservatory at Berklee students in a rehearsal of his new work Onward Still, being performed at Tanglewood on June 21.
Johanna Snow
Students dancers work on steps from Onward Still.
Johanna Snow
Ossola and his friend John Lam, associate professor of dance at Boston Conservatory, take notes during rehearsal.
Johanna Snow
A Boston Conservatory dancer works on steps from Onward Still.
Johanna Snow
Ken Ossola offers feedback to a student.
Johanna Snow
Lam joined Boston Conservatory's faculty in fall 2024 and, although he is new to the Dance Division, he's wasted no time in creating opportunities for students, landing them the gig at Tanglewood and bringing Ossola to the Conservatory's studios for hands-on instruction.
Ossola spent his initial few days on campus sharing steps with students, observing their movement, and custom-fitting Onward Still to their capabilities. There were a lot of questions and answers in that sense. And that also helped me to know each one of the students and to see what was the quality-where I wanted to go with them, where I wanted to lead them-and also to help them cross boundaries, Ossola says. It's beautiful to see them grow and gain confidence.
Working with Ossola pushed the students to expect more from themselves, professionalizing them in the process. You can be taught in class what to do-this, that, and whatever. But when it comes down to a real choreographer in front of you, to produce is a very different story, according to Lam. It's a very different process.
Ossola says that he allowed music to lead the structure of the piece, and so his collaboration with Boston Conservatory has created unique opportunities for music students as well. Van Genechten's electronic composition for Onward Still, entitled One Stream, was arranged for strings and percussion by Patrice Jackson-Tilghman, associate professor of cello. The instrumentalists support three vocal parts for soprano, tenor, and baritone, singing lyrics by M ller.
For Boston Conservatory students, the performance is a unique collaboration across the Music and Dance divisions, creating wholly original work. For audiences, the combination of live dance and music in Onward Still offers something very riveting and very real because it's in the moment, Lam says. You're seeing live art being created.
Get tickets to Onward Still at Tanglewood and learn more about Boston Conservatory at Berklee's contemporary dance program.
Most Popular
Image by Maddie Ross, courtesy of Tape Op magazine
Building a Home Recording Studio? Here's What You Need. Experts break down the home studio setup and share tips to create a pro-level recording space on any budget.
Latest
Image by Elizabeth Friar
Berklee's Music Business/Management Department Recognized by the Music Biz Association Students will receive financial assistance from the Braylin Campbell Memorial Scholarship Foundation.
The Visitors cover art
ECM Records
On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release The Visitor
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Boston Conservatory Heads to Tanglewood This Summer Student dancers and musicians from Boston Conservatory at Berklee will debut a new work by choreographer Ken Ossola with original music by Polle van Genechten on June 21.
