"Bridges NOT Walls”
an encore presentation
Saturday, May 16, 2026 8:00 pm
José Milton Performing Arts Center at MAS
15015 SW 24th St. Miami 33185
Tickets $20 plus fees • $10 for MAS Students and Families
So much has changed since the 2017 world premiere of Dance NOW! Miami’s (DNM)acclaimed cri du cœur, Bridges NOT Walls. This bold plea for understanding, communication and embracing of immigrants resonated then, and reverberates even more in 2026. This leading Florida contemporary company, known for fusing pointed social commentary with artistically elevated choreography, will bring the full one-act piece back to the stage for an encore presentation May 16.
Bridges NOT Walls addresses political struggles that have divided America, and the world. With its stirring and provocative focus on differences and commonalities, migration and immigration, communication and silences, it is a universal and also achingly specific work. Choreographed by Dance NOW! Miami Artistic Directors Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini, it also includes original video art by South Florida-based Francisco Javier Moraga Escalona, and a compelling musical score. Bridges NOT Walls had its original world premiere in Miami and evolved through residencies to include performances in Mexico with the Mexico City Ballet/Compañia de Danza Clásica Quintana Roo, and in Italy with Opus Ballet.
The performance will also include the world premiere of Baumgarten’s 1933, a cabaret-inspired work addressing the rise of Nazi leader Adolph Hitler. In addition, the evening will also feature Strings of Goodbye, a passionate duet from Salterini, and West Coast choreographer Tandy Beal’s Forest Dreams, as part of DNM’s Masterpiece in Motion series.
“As artists we cannot help but be engaged with the world we live in,” says Baumgarten. “Even as raising our voices becomes ever more perilous, speaking up in the vocabulary of contemporary dance and ballet is second nature to us.”
Bridges has become an anthem for Dance NOW!, a message that “…yearns to be seen and heard” -Diana Dunbar, the Wonderful World of Dance, March 20, 2017.