Mary McCarthy, has been an enthusiastic advocate for the dance scene in Boston since 2001 when she moved back to the area from Western Mass. Soon after her discovery of The Dance Complex and full emersion in their classes – 5+ per week – Mary joined the workstudy volunteer program holding a weekly cleaning shift for the last 14 years. While a workstudy volunteer, Mary spearheaded a fundraising initiative to purchase a new floor in Studio 3 of the Dance Complex – the Step Up to The Marley campaign. Additionally, she conceived of and curated the Daniel Charon Dance Intensive at The Dance Complex in the summers of 2009, 2010, and 2011 – opening the door for a workshop format that has continued to be wilding popular in the area.

In 2012, Mary joined other volunteers, staff, faculty, and patrons to help lead the Call to Action petition which ultimately jettisoned the Dance Complex into renewed growth marked by a successful national search for a new Executive Director and community petitioned improvements in Board representation and participation. It was at that time that Mary joined the Board of Directors, serving as chairman from 2013 to 2017. Mary is a contemporary modern dancer and has performed in the New England area for audiences large and small for the past twenty years. Performance spaces include numerous colleges and schools, and a variety of theaters, outdoor stages and unique public spaces such as: Somerville’s Davis Square Train station, 18 feet above the ground; a floating bridge on Lake Hibiscus in the heart of historic Forrest Hills Cemetery; Black Rock City in the Nevada desert at Burning Man 2007; the Huntington Theatre’s lovely Calderwood Pavilion; New York City’s WAXWorks in Williamsburg and the 92nd Street Y; and Boston’s historic Cyclorama Theatre. Mary has had the pleasure of performing for many choreographers including works by Christine Bennett, Brian Crabtree, Audra Carabetta, Lynn Modell, Kelly Donovan, Brian Feigenbaum, DeAnna Pellechia, and Nicole Pierce. In addition to her tireless dedication to the Boston area dance scene, Mary has enjoyed a terrific tenure working as a senior administrator at Harvard University since 2001. Currently she is the Associate Director of Administration at the Department of Physics. In her spare time Mary has taken up mountain biking with great enthusiasm, matched only by her devotion training and adoring two her Boston Terriers Louis Albert and Bernie.