ANIKAYA Dance Theater was founded in 2003 by choreographer Wendy Jehlen. Our work has so far extended to the US, Benin, Brazil, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, France, Haiti, India, Japan, Korea, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Palestine, Rwanda and Turkey.

ANIKAYA’s mission is to break down the perceived boundaries between people, cultures and art forms. ANIKAYA’s work falls into two symbiotic, porous categories – performance and community engagement.  Both come back to one essential change catalyst – kinesthetic empathy. Our work questions the boundaries that we imagine between ourselves, and seeks to break down these imagined walls through an embodied practice of radical empathy.

ANIKAYA weaves together music, dance, visual art, new media and storytelling to create work that is resonant of deep-rooted traditions, without being bound to any one genre, place or practice. 

ANIKAYA engages in the authentic representation of reality. We are an artist-run organization and all of our projects are created by and for people of all genders and gender presentations, people of color from the US and around the world, LGBTQIA people, people with disabilities and people who create bodies that are socially-constructed as disabled. 

ANIKAYA is supported by:

ANIKAYA is proud to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming.

Admission is free for EBT and WIC and ConnectorCare cardholders and up to two guests/family members for all events hosted by ANIKAYA, including virtual and in-person classes and in-person ticketed performances. For ANIKAYA events hosted by other organizations, discounts will vary. See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.