by Carolyn Merritt for The Dance Journal

The evening started off with the most basic of exercises.  Walking.  Two whole songs worth.  Circling the space in counter-clockwise rotations, we matched the downbeat of each step with an exaggerated snap, the kind pacing and undeniable compás of DiSarli’s Don Juan drilling the room into a fleeting moment [...]

BalletX SUMMER SERIES 2009 at The Wilma Theater, July 22-26
Photos generously provided by: William Hebert / BH Photos
267-240-5331 or whebert228@aol.com
http://bhphotos.net and http://www.myspace.com/billhebert_bhphotos

Inna Heasley, publicist for BalletX,  interview of Jodie Gates for the Dance Journal.

BalletX Summer Series 2009
July 22-29 at The Wilma Theater
Choreographer Jodie Gates, a former principal ballerina with The Pennsylvania Ballet and a founder of CaDance/ Laguna Dance Festival, CA. Ms. Gates will create a World Premiere choreographed to the stunning Bolero, [...]

By Merilyn Jackson, For The Inquirer
After donning blue plastic hard hats and climbing the stairs to the long-unused Metropolitan Opera House on North Broad Street, 280 audience members awaited the much-anticipated performance of choreographer Wally Cardona’s Revival by Group Motion Dance Company. The Wednesday-evening opening began the final weekend of the Hidden City festival.
Despite the [...]

Musings syndicated from the Philadelphia Live Arts & Philly Fringe Blog
blog entry by Nicholas Gilewicz

It’s early (for me, anyway), and I’m sitting in the theater at the Painted Bride. The dancers for Scrap Performance Group are warming up on stage. From semi-scripted verbal monologues, the dancers – Katharine Livingston, Marie Brown, Lindsay Browning, Shannon Murphy, [...]

by Maryann Devine, author of smArts & Culture for The Dance Journal
Today, it’s commonplace to see dance companies on Facebook. And no wonder. At 200 million active members, Facebook is fast becoming the world’s preferred social networking site.
But are you taking full advantage of your organization’s Facebook account? Sure, you’ve got a fan page, and [...]

Otros Aires, Argentina’s premiere electronic tango band, will bring their signature blend of tango and electronica to the Philadelphia Ethical Society on July 8, 2009.
The 8:30pm concert will be preceded by a 7pm beginner tango lesson. There will be ample space for dancing (and chairs for listening) and a performance by Andrés Amarilla and Meredith [...]

By Brenda Dixon Gottschild, For The Inquirer
Meredith Rainey talks a lot these days about finding his “voice,” and about the road he’s traveled since leaving the Pennsylvania Ballet three years ago, as he turned 40.
He’s been busy starting anew, honing his skills at making dances, shedding the old identity (call him “a former Pennsylvania Ballet [...]

This just in from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance…
Yesterday, Governor Rendell put the next plan into play regarding a solution for closing the state’s ballooning deficit and the FY10 state budget.
Rendell proposed a temporary personal income tax increase of one-half percent. This plan takes the current 3.07 percent personal income tax up to 3.57 percent [...]

By Merilyn Jackson, For The Inquirer
Inside the Armory of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry on the prosaic block of 23d Street just below Market, art, architecture, and nature collided Saturday in near-mystical blasts as choreographer Leah Stein and Mendelssohn Club music director Alan Harler mustered their forces for composer David Lang’s Battle Hymns.
Part of [...]