Site specific dance is enchantingly alive in The Naked Stark’s collaborative dance Flood, begin again. While the genre may be an endangered species given the considerable time and energy required to master a constellation of safety and design considerations as well as historical and environmental factors, the company has created a vibrant dance work filled with invention, joy, and history at the subterranean Fairmount Water Works Kelly Pool.
A relic of the early 19th century, the site stands along the Schuylkill River, which shimmers in early evening light directly adjacent to where we sit; the river has repeatedly flooded the space we are in. Flood, begin again, has begun.
The performers weave together a water narrative full of bottom crawling and swim strokes. They glide past mottled concrete walls in their bleach-blotched white and blue jumpsuits. Their movement connects us to pre-historic pasts, first fetal explorations, and cosmic spheres. (A recorded voice speaks to “swimming through the stars, in constellations, or through schools of fish.”)
The work is rich in physical contact, both among dancers and between the performers and the elevated ledges and columns that make up the architecture of the site. The watersouls exude an intimacy that extends beyond themselves out to their (and our) environment.
Wit and whimsy, which are always pleasurable offerings in Naked Stark work, appear within gems like a synchronized canon of back-rolls to take off shoes, and a swimsuit photo scene which enacts an elimination-style contest to Cindi Lauper’s anthem, Girls Just Want to Have Fun; as each “contestant” gets eliminated, they dive or jump into an unseen pool space to the crash of cymbals. Performers often surprise us, emerging, wide-eyed, from lower, hidden spaces, to discover us anew.
The performance is bestowed with the brilliant contributions of composer/performer Andy Thierauf—a one-man orchestra of acoustic, electronic and recorded ambient sound—who enlivens every moment of the performance, and lighting designer Harbour Edney whose subtle and evocative lighting modulations differentiate each scene and action.
A storm-and-flood narrative later unfolds reflected in racing runs and leaps to the sounds of drum rolls, bass beats, and perhaps a shipwreck in distress. The survivors slowly emerge, standing on a ledge, heads dripping with water. We sigh with relief. We readily join them to begin again.
Flood, begin again, The Naked Stark, Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Sept. 26-Oct. 3, 2026 ( Katherine Kiefer Stark, Amalia Gabriel Colon-Nava, Chloe Marie, Harlee Trautman, Marcie Mamura, Meredith Stapleton, creator/performers; Andy Thierauf, composer/performer; Harbour Edney, lighting designer/operator; Aubrey Donisch, managing coordinator).
An earlier iteration of this work was reviewed by Zoe Farnsworth in tD in 2025.
