The Dance Journal has officially launched its student author program. Five college and high school students, with an interest in dance and journalism, were recently selected to participate.  Developed under the direction of Kat Richter, each student author is paired with a staff writer from The Dance Journal.  Together, they will over the course of [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal Photos by Leah Weber Local choreographer Brian Sanders doesn’t do subtle.  In fact, had post-modern pioneer Yvonne Rainer attended JUNK’s Snowball at Hamilton Hall on Saturday night, she might have reissued her “No to Spectacle” manifesto right then and there but that was, and remains, the genius of [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal The crowd gathered in front of the Painted Bride on Tuesday morning wasn’t your usual dance audience.  They were all men—young, African American men and a few Latinos.  The “performance etiquette” speech delivered by their chaperone would suggest that they were new to the dance world too but [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal Our first clue that Dancing around the Bride isn’t your ordinary exhibit is the pile of water bottles.  One doesn’t expect to find water bottles—or any of the other dancer paraphernalia— in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, at least certainly not in the middle of a gallery.  Then [...]

Former Principal Dancers Riolama Lorenzo and Sergio Torrado | Photo: Paul Kolnik by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal I’ve been underwhelmed by Pennsylvania Ballet in the past but last night’s performance of Giselle at the Academy of Music was everything that the 171-year old classic ought to be.  From the sets to the score [...]

By Kat Richter for The Dance Journal Today I take off my critic’s hat to make a confession: I don’t really like taking risks.  Being an artist, this puts me at a significant disadvantage.  Art, after all, is all about venturing into the great unknown to try something new.  Nonetheless, performance opportunities for tap dancers [...]

POD (Point of Departure) served up an awesome show over the weekend “Mixed Drinks” pairing 30 different choreographers with a composer.  The extra twists were each choreographer didn’t receive their music till the evening before, had only 2 minutes each to show their stuff and some choreographers were paired with the same composer/score of music [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal September 9, 2012 The title alone (modern dance explained) was enough to get me into the Meeting House Theater this past weekend.  The concept (failed 27-year-old barista adopts an English accent and moves to the big city to become Philadelphia’s “next big choreographer”) was enough to put a [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal September 7, 2012 Combine fifteen student dancers, a dizzying array of costume changes, original music by Christopher Tolomeo and choreography by veteran musical theater dancers Amy Smith and John Curtis and you’ve got one heck of a show.  Day for a Dream, performed by The Call Me Crazy [...]

by Kat Richter for The Dance Journal Ballroom Dancing Ain’t For Sissies, which premiered to a sold out crowd at the Society Hill Dance Academy last night, was—to put it simply— delightful.  Written by local playwright Donald Drake and choreographed by Society Hill’s own Kate Slovich along with dancers Katie Mizak and Anthony Mauriello, the [...]