Triveni School of Dance is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and performance of Indian classical dance, social awareness, and the celebration of cultural diversity, founded in 1971 by Neena Gulati – an acclaimed dancer from New Delhi, India.

The school, based in Brookline, MA, trains dancers every week in three forms of Indian classical dance: Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi. As they learn these techniques, dancers prepare for their arangetram, or artistic debut, featuring a two-hour solo performance. In addition, the Triveni Ensemble gives many performances annually – including benefits for other charities – at multicultural events, schools, community centers, and, universities where lectures are combined with demonstrations and workshops.

TEMPO is a volunteer, diverse group of male and female percussionists, primarily from the island of Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Based in Dorchester, Massachusetts, TEMPO specializes in Afro-Caribbean rhythms with spoken words. Their aim is to promote peace and unity through music and cross-cultural communications. With handmade steel pan and other indigenous instruments from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, TEMPO incorporates improvisation and solicit people in attendance, children, and adults alike, to join in during performances.

TEMPO has performed throughout New England and Canada, entertaining a wide array of audiences. They share the West Indian culture through music to different communities and participate annually in many communities sponsored events, as well as private events. Some of clients include: The City of Boston, The City of Cambridge, Jamaica Plain Porch Fest, Circle the City, Vermont Jerk Fest, Boston Carnival, Cambridge Carnival, Connecticut Carnival, Worchester Carnival, Montreal Carnival, New York J’ouvert, Marion Manner Nursing Home, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, South Cape Health Center, and Unity Sports and Cultural Club.

CYSO is a free program, and the students play real high-end instruments that are handmade and imported from Trinidad. CYSO participants are taught about the history of their instruments and the culture of steel pan music from a real-life perspective.  They learn how the instruments are made and they performed at the largest Festival in Cambridge, Cambridge Carnival. 

CYSO staff and volunteers provide their services to parents and children of the City of Cambridge. This opportunity is made possible through the vision of Nicola Williams from the Williams Group, Cambridge Carnival Committee, Dr. Ulric Johnson, PHD. TAGV (Teens Against Gang Violence), and Tempo International Rhythm and Steel.  CYSO participants learn music theory, peer leadership, history of Pan, Pan Tuning, how to play and maintain the instruments.  They are trained to read music and perform various styles from Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Pop, and other styles of music.  This diversity is reflective of the Cambridge community and promotes mutual respect for all people.

David Coffin has performed throughout New England since 1980. He is widely known for his rich baritone voice and his impressive collection of musical instruments, which includes concertinas, recorders, penny-whistles, bombards, gemshorns, cornamuse, shawm, rauschphieffe – or, as he explains, “generally anything that requires a lot of hot air”. At the heart of David’s work is his extensive collection of songs from the Maritime tradition. To date, David has recorded four solo CDs; his latest, Last Trip Home, was released in the Fall of 2009 and features his daughter, Linnea, who is also a Revels performer.

David has performed with Revels since 1980 as a singer, instrumentalist and, since 1991, as Master of Ceremonies. Since 2014, David has served as Artist in Residence at Revels and has presented his acclaimed School Enrichment Programs to schools across the region as an extension of Revels Education. He runs tours of Boston Harbor during the summer months, leading over 5,000 inner-city children on boat trips to George’s and Spectacle Islands. He also directs the narration program for Boston Harbor Cruises and hosts the Brunch Cruises every weekend from May to October.

Debra Wise (Revels Associate Artistic Director) co-founded Underground Railway Theater in Oberlin, Ohio; from 1978-2008, URT toured original works in the collaborative spirit of the Underground Railroad to venues ranging from Lincoln Center. to schools, to Symphony Hall, including Sanctuary-The Spirit of Harriet Tubman, Home is Where, InTOXICating, and Christopher Columbus Follies; with the Boston Symphony, Firebird, Creation of the World, and Tempest. As URT’s Artistic Director, she created performances for non-traditional venues in the area, including Museum of Science, MIT Museum, Mary Baker Eddy Library, the MFA, and on the streets of Cambridge. After founding Central Square Theater with Nora Theatre Company in 2008, Wise co-founded Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, CST’s science theater partnership. She led partnerships with Mount Auburn Cemetery and the National Park Service (Roots of Liberty–The Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War). Productions Wise helmed have won Elliot Norton awards, including Vanity Fair; black odyssey boston; The Convert, and Constellations. Acting appearances at CST have included Angels in America, Half-Life of Marie Curie, Homebody, Copenhagen, Einstein’s Dreams, Arabian Nights; other stages include Commonwealth Shakespeare, New Rep, Speakeasy, Boston Playwrights, and the Public in NYC (The Haggadah, designed by Julie Taymor). She has adapted for the stage works by Dickens, Grace Paley, Lewis Carroll, and Gregory Maguire. She developed the Art Works for Schools curriculum with Harvard’s Project Zero, the DeCordova Museum, and area schools. Wise left her CST Artistic Director position in 2022 to invite diverse leadership; she continues as CoChair of the CC@MIT Advisory Committee. She consults with the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project (www.owrproject.org); co-authored a digital book on URT’s history (www.URTheaterEbook.com); and her third audiobook, The Witch of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire, was released this fall.

Elijah Botkin graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with bachelor’s degrees in Music History & Analysis and Mathematics. During his time at Northeastern, Elijah founded and directed the Northeastern Madrigal Singers; was President, Bass Section Leader, and Assistant Director for the NU Choral Society; and sang with and arranged for the award-winning a cappella group Distilled Harmony. In 2015, Elijah won the award for Outstanding Arrangement for his arrangement of Distilled Harmony’s quarterfinal-winning set in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. In the same year, his arrangement of “Nothing Feels Like You” by Little Mix also won a CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Mixed Collegiate Song. In 2014, Elijah was granted the Gideon Klein Award in order to write his composition The Closed Town, which was premiered by the Northeastern University Chamber Choir in April 2015. Currently, Elijah continues to direct the NU Madrigals and serves on the Board of Trustees for Chorus pro Musica. He also sings with the Boston-based chamber choir Carduus and serves as their Treasurer and Business Manager.

Paddy Swanson began his career in London as an actor at the Arts Theatre in the West End. In 1969, he toured Europe with La MaMa Plexus and subsequently got his world theater education from Ellen Stewart at La MaMa E.T.C. in New York. His numerous directing projects include opera, ensemble, music theater and circus.  He was a founding stage director of Circus Flora.

Paddy taught acting and improvisation at the London Academy of Dramatic Art (L.A.M.D.A.), the London Drama Centre, and New York University. He served as artistic director of the Castle Hill Festival at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, directing and co-producing opera and theater works, including the premiere of Julie Taymor’s Liberty’s Taken and Peter Sellars’ production of Cosi fan Tutte. Other directing credits include Tristan and Iseult with the Boston Camerata at the Spoleto USA festival; Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell at Houston’s Alley Theatre and Boston’s Charles Playhouse;  Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, and two stage premieres at Gloucester Stage Company; Talking Heads by Alan Bennett; and Fighting Over Beverley by Israel Horowitz . His Actors’ Shakespeare Project (A.S.P.) production of  Shakespeare’s King Lear with Alvin Epstein was nominated for three 2006 Elliot Norton awards. For A.S.P. he subsequently directed The Tempest, The Coveted Crown  (Henry IV Parts One and Two) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His most recent acting performance was for Gloucester Stage in their 20th anniversary production of Fighting over Beverley.

For Revels, Paddy has directed a contemporary version of the medieval mystery plays, The Mysteries by Tony Harrison, co-produced by Revels and Shakespeare & Company, and Britten’s opera Noye’s Fludde. He writes and directs all Cambridge Revels scripts, and with music director George Emlen, serves as consultant to the other eight Revels production companies.