Meet the Writers: Jonathan Stein

Jonathan Stein

What are you most excited to cover through TD?
Performance that is provocative, ironic, humorous, sensual, physically challenging, and smart.

Which part is challenging, scary, difficult?

Addressing dance that I am less familiar with, and beyond my past viewing experience. Returning to edit my own writing.

How did you learn to type?

Never learned, beyond the forefinger-each-hand method, nearly flunked typing in jr. high school, but I’m fast.

What is the TD project really about, in your experience?

Bringing more artist voices into the discourse, and filling a void with lots of energized dance writing.

Good dance…
wants me to come back the next night, and urge friends to come out too.

Good writing…

is all around us for the curious.

What is your “desert-island” publication?

My music collection in an island-pod.

If you never see another _________again, it will be too soon.
Presidential debate

What would your parents say about your work in the arts?

Wonderful, but are you still a Legal Services (legal aid) lawyer?

If you were to write a dance love-letter, it would be to:
Steve Krieckhaus, and ask when he is coming back.

Share this article

Jonathan Stein

Jonathan Stein has retired from a 50 year career in anti-poverty lawyering at Community Legal Services where he had been Executive Director and General Counsel, and remains Of Counsel. He is a member of the board of directors with thINKingDANCE as well as a writer and editor.

PARTNER CONTENT

Keep Reading

Banyan Dance Festival: I Am Because We Are

E. Wallis Cain Carbonell

"We must remember on whose shoulders we stand.”

In rehearsal with Sean Aaron Carmon, the Resident Choreographer at Banyan Dance Festival’s Inaugural week, dancers practice phrasework close to a light grey marley floor. In the foreground, a young white woman with loose brown hair in navy basketball shorts, black kneepads and black socks hinges backward. Carmon, a young black man with curly hair and a red bandana demonstrates floorwork in the background of the photo. Other dancers are busy at work in the rest of the photo. Some are part way out of frame.
Photo: Anthony Bethel

Variety and Conformity in Community Work

Zoe Farnsworth

The enthusiasm and community were vibrant, but the choreography left me wanting more at Philly Dance Day's 2026 Showcase

Several lines of students are mid bounce/step, focused on executing the choreography. All face front toward a wall lined with mirrors. The instructor stands in the middle of the front row of dancers. Participants wear a variety of athletic wear–workout sweats, tanks, shorts, long-sleeve zip ups–and most dance in sneakers.
Photo: Kirwei Lo