ACTivate Residency Artist 2025

While pole dance has become most of her identity, Olivia Moon (she/he/they) is also a photographer, sock-lover, boy, martini enthusiast, princess, and simp. Based in Boston, Olivia is curious about pushing boundaries and buttons of all sorts; WBUR named her as one of 15 artists of color making an impact in Boston. A recent recipient of the Next Steps for Boston Dance award, Olivia experiments with fusing the fluidity of contemporary dance with the sensuality and athleticism of pole dance. Their home is within the dynamism of performance and visual artistry; the possibility for range and contradiction of character and gender excite her.

You can find her grooving at @mooningeveryone and snapping pix at @halfasianlens on Instagram.

Project Statement

For her ACTivate residency, Olivia, along with the expertise and assistance of Jaina Cipriano, plans to decorate the Cyclorama with portable poles, pole dancers, projection, and other sculptural components. Throughout the week, the dancers will pull from experimental practices of contemporary dance to create improvisational structures within pole dance. The residency will culminate in an informal showing of this interdisciplinary pole dance investigation.

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ACTivate Residency Filmmaker 2023

Be/Longing
(as part of Soyoung L Kim’s 2023 ACTivate Residency)

Throughout the week of February 6-12, 2023, Olivia documented Soyoung L. Kim’s time in the BCA’s Cyclorama during her ACTivate Residency. Olivia produced a short film that communicates Kim’s artistic process through another lens: Watch it here.

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