Welcoming New Writers to thINKingDANCE!

Kalila Kingsford Smith

Join us in welcoming our newest writers to thINKingDANCE!

This January, we received applications from 50 writers interested in joining our team, our highest number of applications yet! After a rigorous collective decision-making process, we are excited to bring the following writers into the thINKingDANCE fold. 

Ankita,
Ashayla Byrd,
Brendan McCall,
Caedra Scott-Flaherty,
Cory Seals,
Ella Konefal,
Emily “Lady Em” Culbreath,
E. Wallis  Cain Carbonell,
Lauren Berlin,
Nadia Ureña
Noel Price-Bracey,
Sofie Rose Seymour,
Xander Cobb,
Ya-Ya Fairley,  and
Zoe Farnsworth.

Stay tuned as they start to write new articles!

Inside Our Hiring Process

thINKingDANCE is committed to a collective decision making process. Twelve of our writers and editors read every application for the quality of the writing sample, the experience and perspectives mentioned in applicants’ cover letters, and applicants’ ability to contribute and commit to this Philadelphia-based organization. After compiling this holistic data, we reached a consensus about who was the best fit for tD.

Share this article

Kalila Kingsford Smith

Philadelphia native Kalila Kingsford Smith is a movement professional, dance educator, choreographer, writer, and pilates instructor. She served as the Director of thINKingDANCE from 2021-2025, having joined the thINKingDANCE team in 2012 as a staff writer.

PARTNER CONTENT

Keep Reading

Rave, or Revelation? Celibate Orgies & Mixed Messaging in The Testament of Ann Lee

Lauren Berlin

In this cinematic story of the Shakers, contradictory messages about the body compete with ecstatic movement sequences

A scene from the 2025 film, The Testament of Ann Lee: Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) opens her arms wide and looks on a slight upward diagonal, lips gently parted, gaze forward, or perhaps “beyond.” The reverent gesture takes up the whole horizontal span of the image. Lee dresses modestly in a muted cerulean dress with long sleeves. A cream colored scarf covers her head and wraps around her bust in an X. The image cuts off just beneath the scarf.
Photo: Courtesy of Disney and Searchlight Pictures

Decomposing Mediation: On FRANK

Writings from tD's Emerging Writer's Fellowship

Mulunesh, a Black woman in a thick, hooded raincoat, stands crookedly with her weight shifted over one foot. Her arms are lifted out from her sides and her hands are in fists. She is lit with harsh, bright lights, and boxed in on three sides with heavy transparent plastic. Behind her, a sheet of white marley and two red cables dangle limply, as if caught mid collapse. The floor beneath her feet, made of the same white marley, is spotted with piles of black paper confetti.
Photo: Bas de Brouwer