contemporary dance

A giant discoball hangs at the back of the theater, Philadelphia’s “biggest”. The stage is awash in red with a spotlight at the lip of the stage. The theater is empty; there is a sense of anticipation as the discoball takes over the frame of the photo.
Photo: Paige Phillips
  • Interviews

‘Don’t Stop Me Now’: A Philadelphia Dance Extravaganza

Zoe Farnsworth

A community dance extravaganza full of queerness, flirtiness and wild Queen Interpretations.

Three performers stand in a triangle in Studio 34. The camera blurs the background and focuses on their upper torsos and faces. The two dancers in backwear jeans and t-shirts; one laughs and the other holds a serious expression, bracing for impact. Together, they support the front dancer’s hips and shoulders. This third performer looks expectantly forward for the shove of another performer not in the photo.
Photo: Rachel Warriner
  • Interviews

Resistance and Art-Making: ‘Dancing Collective Power’

Zoe Farnsworth

Integrating improvisational dance skills into direct action protest

Joan Myers Brown and eight fellow choreographers, dancers, and company leaders seated on a panel discussion on a blue-lit stage at the Perelman Theater, following the performance.
Photo: Lauren Berlin
  • Reviews

Philadanco: Then and Now

Lauren Berlin

Aunt Joan, Philadanco, and a Philadelphia Legacy: 65 Years and Counting

The Of Dishes and Dreams cast in blue Thai-style garments used for restaurant work. Eyes focus on choreographer Keerati Jinakunwiphat as the ensemble walks around her. Keerati is being lifted into the air in a hug, legs piked together, reaching up to the sky. On the left side of the image, Claude “CJ” Johnson, holds another point of focus – legs open in a wide stance, bending deep at the knees, shoulders and hips to one diagonal, while he peeks playfully toward Keerati in the opposite corner. Kitchen items made of plastic and twine balance precariously in the background.
  • Reviews

Found in Translation

ankita

A child of immigrants dances in her parents’ kitchen

Six dancers in grey jumpsuits sprawl across the top of a concrete wall in a large warehouse-like space. They fall on top of each other, with arms extending out in different directions, fingers and hair blurred as if caught in motion.
Photo: Ben Bloodwell
  • Reviews

Filling Empty Pools

Zoe Farnsworth

The Naked Stark flows between performance and interactive experience at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center.

A white woman with dark brown hair, wearing a blue outfit, sparkly shoes, and a bright red lip that matches her red hoop earrings, lies back on a small gray table. Her mouth is wide open as if singing, one arm reaching emphatically above her head while the other grips the table tightly for balance. Her legs float in the air, parallel to one another at a slightly awkward angle. She is a rockstar in an empty room.
Photo: Jen Kertis
  • Reviews

This is a white piece, and that’s okay

ankita

Bucking nice, white conventions in favor of complexity

(Left to Right): Burr Johnson, Savannah Gaillard. A bald man with a beard sits on the floor, he wears what looks like a loose skirt or dress, and gazes at his right arm which is gently extended horizontally from his side. Nearby, a woman with dark hair wearing shorts stands in profile in front of a wall made out of tatami, a small doorway in front of her.
Photo: Maria Baranova
  • Reviews

Trisha Brown: The Joy of Looking Back

Brendan McCall

Reconstructions and a world-premiere continue Trisha Brown´s legacy

three dancers with large white blankets of tulle fabric pull them across each other, the camera catches them in a blurry flurry of motion. each dancer looks toward a different direction, arms to the sky. the photograph is a wash of the transparent tulle.
Photo: Rob Li Photography
  • Reviews

the wave of ending and beginning

desire amaiya

with the world so uncertain and art requiring more cherishing than ever, Lin cherishes the dancers and the giving act of perf

Two people dressed in blue sit on top of an overturned recycling bin, with their arms extended overhead as if riding a rollercoaster. They have nervous looking facial expressions, and are in front of a curtain backdrop which is painted like a bedroom. There is a hand coming from behind the backdrop, grasping it, as if preparing to enter the stage.
Photo: Dylan Smythe
  • Reviews

Has Sadness Ever Taken You Down to the Dump?

Caitlin Green

“THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER!”

In groups of three, dancers are positioned stage left, stage right and centerstage. The left and right groups perform a lift with two dancers at the base and the aerial dancer reaching outward. Through reaching in similar form to the aerial dancers, the centerstage trio remains grounded. Dancers stand against a white backdrop with pink and blue lights. They wear uniform spandex pants and crop tops.
Photo: Sasha Onyshchenko
  • Reviews

Montreal Company, RUBBERBAND, Brings Reckless Underdog to Philly

Caitlin Green

Bringing street dance to the theater underscores the intersection of performance and social dance.