Foundation Trust Celebrates Culminating Performance of 2025-2026 Teen Artist Fellowship Recipient at Urbanity Dance

Left to right: Jana Pressley, Foster Woodberry, Joseph Spinazzola, Miranda Lawson, Betsi Graves

Last month, the Foundation Trust was honored to attend the culminating performance of Foster Woodberry, recipient of the 2025-2026 Foundation Trust Teen Artist Fellowship. Foster, under the guidance of mentor Miranda Lawson, created Patchwork, a dance they describe as “exploring how different movement vocabularies are represented in a single artist,” with choreography aimed at “capturing disparate dance training all present within one body, sewing them together as if they were patches on the fabric of the dancer’s being.”

Foster and Miranda developed this piece as part of the 2025 Foundation Trust Emerging Artist Initiative at Urbanity Dance. This initiative is part of the Foundation’s Priority Track 4, which aims to promote opportunities for underrepresented individuals in the arts. Under the guidance of Betsi Graves, Director and Founder of Urbanity Dance, the initiative included development of an 8-month long mentorship program for two Emerging Artists: an adult dancer and choreographer to serve as Mentor, and a teen artist Mentee.

Foster Woodberry is a queer contemporary and hip-hop dancer based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are entering 12th grade at Concord Academy and aim to use their improvisatory techniques to explore the intersection between their street styles and contemporary practices. Mentor Miranda Lawson is a Boston-based dancer, choreographer, and educator originally from Somerville, Massachusetts. She specializes in contemporary and hip-hop dance forms and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Psychology from Mount Holyoke College.

Foster and Miranda

“During the Teen Artist Fellowship it was a privilege to guide a young artist through their creative process and witness their growth, confidence, and evolving sense of themselves as an artist. One of the most rewarding parts of the experience was watching Foster recognize their own potential and begin to understand the value of their artistic voice. Being able to support, encourage, and challenge them throughout that process was deeply meaningful to me, and I left the fellowship feeling grateful to have played a small part in their artistic development,” shared Mentor Miranda Lawson.

Together, these performers embraced this rare opportunity for a young choreographer to discover their artistic voice, receive individualized mentorship, and present an original work to the community. “It was a privilege to witness Foster's creative process over the course of the spring and summer months as they developed this incredible piece of choreography, with the mentorship of Mirana Lawson. Patchwork combined Foster’s original poetry and movement from a variety of dance traditions, culminating in a powerful expression of identity and self-acceptance. It is clear that the mission and culture of Urbanity Dance creates a space in which youth and adults can find their unique voice through the language of lance, and it was an honor to partner with the studio through the Foundation Trust Teen Artist Fellowship,” shared Dr. Jana Pressley, Senior Training Associate of the Foundation Trust.

Urbanity Dance is a nonprofit arts organization that exists to inspire, engage, and empower individuals and communities through the art of dance and movement. To learn more, visit https://www.urbanitydance.org/mission.