Dance at The 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe

The 13th annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe has arrived, now through September 19th!

This year promises to be one of the largest offerings of dance performances, with a broad array of performing artists from Philadelphia and around the world.

So to help you select from the multitude of offerings, we have provided this simple guide to this years offerings.

For up to the minute details and to purchase your tickets, be sure to visit the Live Arts & Fringe web site at http://www.livearts-fringe.org

DANCE AT THE PHILLY FRINGE

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KCuffs Dance Collaborative
Most every religion promotes very unusual practices which regularly occur in the lives of religious people. These peculiar acts are intended to bring one closer to knowing the true intentions of The Spirit/Allah/Bliss. Through movement, the KCuffs Dance Collaborative is exploring the meaning and purpose of these ritualistic acts.
$10 / 50 minutes
CHI Movement Arts Center
1316 South 9th Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 9 at 3:30pm + 7pm
Sept 10 + 11 at 7pm

Are We They?
Scott Park Dance Company: Dangerous And Movin’
Dangerous And Movin’ is a contemporary dance company and will premiere work for the show Are We They? We are among you. However, we are not you. We see changes that are needed and will finally take over. Through video projection, the audience is personally involved in questioning values.
$10 / 90 minutes
CHI Movement Arts Center
1316 South 9th Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 6 at 7pm
Sept 7 at 8pm

A World of Seduction Passion & Vulnerability
Xhale Dance Company
Michael Susten, the creator of Xhale, brings dancers, choreographers, and live musicians from around the city to create his ensemble. Xhale, known for its contemporary style, mixes musical theater, tap, and modern into its shows, creating a wide variety of talent and an entertaining experience for all ages!
$15 / 90 minutes
Painted Bride Art Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 11 at 9:30pm

Chloe and Solved
Beau Hancock, Colleen Hooper, and Jennifer Morley
Solved, Part Two captures the queasy feeling you get when you encounter a stranger in an unexpected way. Chloe is a score-based work developed from a catalog of repeatable phrases that are manipulated in performance. An Outer Space Project creates an irresistible fantasy of what outer space could be.
$10 / 65 minutes
CHI Movement Arts Center
1316 South 9th Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 12 at 7pm + 9:30pm
Sept 13 at 6pm

City Dances/Parkway
Group Motion Multi Media Dance Theater
City Dances/Parkway, a travelling performance involving dance, music, art, and technology, engages iconic art sites such as The Thinker and The Gates of Hell (Rodin), Iroquois and Prometheus (Art Museum). Using your iPod, you will be led by dancers and their “moving music” on this interactive walking tour.
Free / 60 minutes
Courtyard of the Rodin Museum
Benjamin Franklin Parkway + 22nd Street
Sept 9–11 + 16–18 at noon

Danse4Nia Meets Forces of Nature, The Move/Meant
Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble
Exploring the role of dance as a healer, the Move/Meant series promotes the history, legacy, and lineage of African-American dance. Themes of ecology, spirituality, and social responsibility are explored in the critically acclaimed choreography of NYC’s Abdel Salaam, a unique blend of modern, West African, ballet, house and hip-hop.
$25 / 90 minutes
John E. Allen, Jr. Theatre at the New Freedom Theatre
1346 North Broad Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 12 at 8pm
Sept 13 at 4pm

Death & Destruction
Stray Cats & Wayward Bats
Fresh off the tails of their sold-out show last year, the Stray Cats have picked up some Wayward Bat companions and are bringing you an eclectic array of cutting edge choreography that will make you purr with delight. Apocalyptic? Perhaps. Upbeat? Definitely. Disclaimer: This is a rad dance show.
$15 / 120 minutes
Meeting House Theater at the Community Education Center
3500 Lancaster Avenue
Sept 8 + 15 at 7:30pm

El Duelo (The Wake)
Pasión y Arte
Pasión y Arte invites you to a viewing of the new work-in-progress El Duelo (The Wake).  Enter the inner world of five women who are in mourning: the mother, the wife, the lover, and two daughters. Witness the profundity of the modern Flamenco language and be part of the experience.
$25 / 60 minutes
Woodlands Cemetery
4000 Woodland Avenue
Sept 16–18 at 7pm
Sept 19 at 3pm + 7pm

Elixir
Alchemy Dance Company
Alchemy Dance Company presents a world premiere dance performance with new works by artistic director Amy Harding and guest choreographer Ami Dowden-Fant (dancer, dance theatre X). Dowden-Fant’s style offers a fluid abandonment of the body while Alchemy’s contemporary jazz piece Sideshow Noir brings a carnivalesque dance/theater experience to the stage.
$20 / 75 minutes
Painted Bride Art Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 4 + 5 at 7pm

Enlightenment
Berry & Nance Dance Project
Hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 as a “compelling performance pair,” the Berry & Nance Dance Project returns to Philadelphia with Enlightenment. Stafford C. Berry, Jr. and C. Kemal Nance currently direct the companies of Chuck Davis and Kariamu Welsh. They’re back to share their brand of African dance.
$15 / 85 minutes
Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine Street
Sept 6 at 5pm

Formed Declarations
Christina Catanese and Julia Cuccaro
A century after F.T. Marinetti envisioned his avant-garde movement, his Futurist dance manifesto finally comes to life. This work examines technology’s impact on humanity and Futurism’s goal of fusing bodies with machinery. The remainder of the program explores other movements’ use of dance as a declaration of politics and aesthetics.
$10 / 50 minutes
MBN Studios (Gallery)
725 North 4th Street
Sept 11 + 18 at 9pm
Sept 12 + 19 at 4:30pm + 9:30pm
Sept 16 at 7:30pm

Fusion
Fusion Dance Company
Not your traditional modern dance company, Fusion Dance Company transcends the boundaries between different genres of dance and performance, purposely defying categorization. Come experience Fusion as it proudly makes its debut with a collection of contemporary works fused together into an entertaining and evocative collage of dance.
$10 / 60 minutes
The Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 6 at 3pm

GOLD
keila cordova dances
GOLD is pirate booty. It’s what stays in Vegas. It’s 1920s chorus girls and modern day video girls. Keila Cordova and her multitalented company return to the Philly Fringe with a breathtaking, dance-theater deconstruction of the price of desire in the war on love. Presented with Happy Inside and Meteorologica.
$15 / 70 minutes
Painted Bride Art Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 9, 10, 16, 17 at 9:30pm

IN FLUX
Mascher Space Cooperative
Mascher Space Cooperative hosts a mixed goody bag yielding four yet-to-be-unwrapped delightful danceworks by some of the Philly dance scene’s finest at IN FLUX Performance Series. Whether or not you got a sweet taste of last year’s IN FLUX, you’ll want to sample these varied and thoughtful works.
$10 / 75 minutes
Mascher Space Co-op
155 Cecil B Moore Avenue
Sept 10 at 8pm
Sept 13 at 6pm

Out of the Rose
Annex Dance Company
Annex Dance Company presents Out of the Rose, an evening-length work created in the spirit of ‘total theater’. The poetry of W.B. Yeats comes to life through a unique integration of dance, spoken poetry, and American Sign Language. Accessible to all audiences (hearing, deaf, and those apprehensive about modern dance).
$15 / 75 minutes
Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine Street
Sept 4 at 8pm
Sept 5 at 3pm

Pandora’s Box
Imprint Dance Co. of Sanbrooka Productions &
The Blind Faith Project
Pandora’s Box unleashes stories of courage and hope. Imprint Dance Company of Sanbrooka Productions and The Blind Faith Project collaborate to delve into our internal voice, insecurities, and breaking points, and what we do when have no chance but to survive. Expressed through contemporary jazz, hip-hop, and performance art.
$10 / 50 minutes
Gloria Dei Old Swedes’ Church
916 South Swanson Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 4 + 5 at 8pm

Passion
Eng & Friends Dance Company
Premiering Uncharted Land, a precisely pulsing dance set to the rhythms and sounds of African drums. Focusing on how community, family, and merriment strengthen our inner spirit, and what makes us completely human. Serendipity Dance Ensemble will also be presenting a heartrending work in this joint venture program. Come witness!
$15 / 60 minutes
954 Dance Movement Collective
954 North 8th Street
Sept 12 at 7pm
Sept 13 at 6pm

POOF!
Pink Hair Affair
Pinkerbell Fairy flutters down, zaps you with her wand and “poof”. The moon is full. The mist is thick. The spell is cast. Dare to situate your unsettled self in this magical world of dance where the rewards are enchanting and the dangers dark.
$15 / 90 minutes
thefidget space
1714 North Mascher Street
Sept 4 at 7pm + 9pm
Sept 5 + 6 at 7pm

Satellite Submission/Nutmeg Overdose
Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective
Texting in the bathroom??? Disconnect and see Indigenous Pitch’s special brand of hip hop, vertical trickin’, and media-infused dance set to original music by emerging Philadelphia composers! Interactive ringtones, speed-texting playoffs . . . featuring Binc, Illadelphlave, IlReality, Stephen Welsh/SWERVE, Underground Dance Works, and Syne Film’s Mockumentary, Nutmeg Overdose.
$15 / 90 minutes
Painted Bride Arts Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 11 at 7pm
Sept 12 at 2pm + 7pm
Sept 13 at 2pm

Series IV: The Demystification
Choreographic Sketches
Choreographic Sketches, a choreography series based in New York City, investigates the demystification of the choreographic process and features works by emerging and evolving African Diasporic choreographers and their companies. Series IV encompasses Program A & B, featuring eight choreographers in two events. Series will close with dance workshops.
$25 / 120 minutes
Painted Bride Arts Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair accessible
Sept 18 + 19 at 7pm
Sept 20 at 3pm + 5pm

Shrug
RealLivePeople
RealLivePeople is a collective of six choreographers who spend their days coping, hoping, filling out forms, and freezing leftovers just like everyone else . . . but we make dances about it. Please join us as we explore those things that make us most human through movement, text, and a few cardboard boxes.
$10 / 90 minutes
CHI Movement Arts Center
1316 South 9th Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 17 + 18 at 8pm

Something Striking
Sarah Carlson & Pamela Vail
Something Striking brings together the work of two formerly NYC-based artists.  Now living in the bowels of Pennsylvania, Sarah and Pam imagine spiders and strippers, identity and ecstasy all living in the same web. Powerful bodies, sound, and text map the peculiar, the particular, the personal, and the universal.
$15 / 90
Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine Street
Sept 11 at 8pm
Sept 12 at 5pm + 8pm

Splitting the Difference
Kelly Bond
“The body is like a sentence that invites us to re-imagine it, so that its real meaning becomes clear through an endless series of anagrams.” (Hans Bellmer) This choreographic solo work proposes an “alien” body with a very present subject within that physically states, “This body is your body, too.”
$10 / 45 minutes
James Oliver Gallery
723 Chestnut Street
Sept 11 at 10pm
Sept 12 at 5pm + 10pm

the 9 muses
Music & Motion Dance
What inspires you? In ancient Greece there were nine muses that ruled over the arts and sciences offering inspiration. For dancers, it is a sacred space to retreat to and ultimately find oneself. It is a playground that has the power to transport us and help resuscitate our imaginations.
$15 / 60 minutes
The Studio at Filmtech
2019 South Juniper Street 2nd Floor
Sept 5 at 1:30pm, 3:30pm + 7:30pm

The Pointe of Water
COME UNITY
We dance for social change. Proceeds from this event will go towards bringing clean, safe drinking water to communities in Africa. Born in the hearts of American Repertory Ballet’s impressive dancers, COME UNITY has raised over $50,000 since 2007. Fresh choreography. Phenomenal dancing. Inspiring stories. Heartbreaking truths. Join us.
$15 / 70 minutes
Painted Bride Arts Center
230 Vine Street
Wheelchair Accessible
Sept 13 at 7pm

“The Scene”
Rachel Hammer, Samantha Jakus, & Alyse Landis
Upswept hair, pensive shadowy eyes, sculpted check bones, and sharply defined lips. Her face spirals around her elongated neck. An image is only a glimpse into a greater story, transforming in between the lights. Actions of bodies fighting to be unseen. Observe the physical transformation, powdering and painting, zippering and buttoning . . .
$10 / 60 minutes
Ethical Society
1906 Rittenhouse Square
Sept 9 + 10 at 8pm

Thinking Out Loud
Vada Dance Collective
Featuring artist collaboration and multimedia work, Vada Dance’s Thinking Out Loud explores the relationship between the internal and the external of one’s mind and the delicate translation of thoughts into movement. Enjoy an afternoon of vibrant, technically driven choreography by Rebecca Moyer and Katie Kasari.
$15 / 90 minutes
Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Avenue
Sept 6 at 3pm

DANCE AT THE PHILADELPHIAPHIA LIVE ARTS FESTIVAL

Note: All week-night and Sunday-night Live Arts Festival shows are $25. Performances on weekend afternoons or Saturday nights are $30.The more Festival shows you see, the more you save – buy tickets to 2 or more shows and save 20%. Students and Festival goers 25 and younger: $15

Urban Scuba (World Premiere)
Brian Sanders/JUNK
Choreographer Brian Sanders’ (AdShock, 2006) latest creation emerges from the basement of The Gershman Y’s huge, abandoned swimming pool. The site has been deserted for fifteen years. In Urban Scuba, audience members are seated on risers in the shallow end of the pool, as the high-flying and athletic JUNK dancers perform in the deep end. Humor and extreme physicality will be at the forefront, as wild illusions are created by movement and fantastical costumes over water.
50 minutes
The Pool and The Gershman Y
401 S. Broad Street
Wed. 9/2 (preview) at 7pm
Fri. 9/4 at 7pm
Sat. 9/5 at 2pm + 6pm*
Sun. 6/6 at 7pm
Thurs. 9/10 + Fri. 9/11 at 9pm
Sat. 9/12 at 3pm + 7pm
Sun. 9/13 at 3pm + 7pm

above under inbetween (U.S. Premiere)
Cie. Willi Dorner
Viennese choreographer Willi Dorner, who worked with a group of local dancers for last year’s traveling outdoor dance event bodies in urban spaces, will return to the Live Arts Festival with the U.S. Premiere of above under inbetween, performed by a roster of Austrian dancers, with Philadelphia dance artist Megan Bridge. above under inbetween uses human bodies to redesign our home. Like bendable, multi-jointed building materials, dancers’ bodies are stacked, folded, and fitted together to create “a new living space” constructed of human beings. Set to new music by composer Bernhard Lang, the result is a compelling, absurd, and very humorous view of the ordinary.
60 minutes
ICE BOX Project Space
1400 N. American Street
Fri. 9/11* at 8pm
Sat. 9/12 at 8pm

Mortal Engine (U.S. Premiere)
Chunky Move
The highly acclaimed Melbourne, Australia-based Chunky Move will offer a cutting-edge fusion of technology and dance in the U.S. premiere of Mortal Engine, an intensely physical, sensual, and visually daring work that melds laser and video projections to the shape-shifting motions of live dancers. Mortal Engine has no pre-rendered video, light, or laser images. Instead, interactive systems allow light, video, sound, and body movement to respond to each other in real time. With this groundbreaking visual power, Mortal Engine leads audiences into a world where unformed bodies search to connect and evolve.
55 minutes
The Wilma Theater
265 S. Broad Street
Thu. 9/17 at 7pm*
Fri. 9/18 at 8pm
Sat. 9/19 at 4pm + 8pm

more. (World Premiere)
Headlong Dance Theater
Philadelphia and Festival favorite Headlong Dance Theater (Explanatorium, 2007; Cell, 2006) will present the World Premiere of more. – a daring new work where nothing is deemed impossible. In more., Headlong imagines a dance of our bodies after our bodies have gone away.  In an ever-shifting landscape, a house is built, dismantled, and built up again. Rooms morph into sculptures strewn with bodies. Suddenly, an office party gathers by a horse field where dancers gallop about and are honored for their long years of service. A furious dance of what the body isn’t tears across a domestic world.
80 minutes
Arts Bank at The University of the Arts
601 South Broad Street
Thurs. 9/10 at 8pm
Fri. 9/11 at 8pm
Sat. 9/12 at 4pm + 8pm
Sun. 9/13 at 4pm*
Mon. 9/14 at 7pm

STORE (World Premiere)
kate watson-wallace/anonymous bodies
Chronicling the inner life of the American consumer and performed inside an abandoned mega-store, STORE is inspired by how and why we buy. It imagines what our world would be like if we only had the rules left, and everything else was gone, except for the leftovers, the wreckage of our excess. What will our bodies do in a world where the product is gone and the rules – detest, discover, purchase, apply, empty, repeat – are all we have?
60 minutes
The Former RiteAid
4237 Walnut Street
Fri. 9/4 + Sat. 9/5 at 9 pm
Sun. 9/6 + Mon. 9/7 at 1 pm + 3 pm
Tue. 9/8* + Wed. 9/9 at 7 pm

Kill Me Now (World Premiere)
Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre
Playing with the live ammunition of real audiences voting for fictional characters, Kill Me Now blurs the line between art and reality, exposing the performers to the casual cruelty of the crowd. Before the curtain rises, audiences become familiar with the contestants though videotaped confessionals playing in the lobby and by reading their profiles on Facebook.
60 minutes
Arts Bank at The University of the Arts
601 South Broad Street
Fri. 9/4 at 7pm
Sat. 9/5 at 7pm
Sun. 9/6 at 4pm* + 7pm
Mon. 9/7 at 4pm

Postcards from the Woods (World Premiere)
Merián Soto/Performance Practice
In the world premiere of Postcards from the Woods, Bessie Award-winning choreographer Merián Soto/Performance Practice offers a dreamlike installation of light and sound as performers dance with branches, some 20 feet long, set against a backdrop of video projections of nature in extreme close-up.Amid a hypnotic soundscape, dancers ever-so-slowly shift their bodies to accommodate the shifting balance of the massive branches. A sense of danger enshrouds the room, as the precarious symmetry of dancer and branch – despite their gentle beauty – is forever on the precipice of destruction.
55 minutes
ICE BOX Projects Space
1400 N American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Wed. 9/16 at 7pm*
Thurs. 9/17 at 7pm
Fri. 9/18 at 7pm
Sat. 9/19 at 2pm + 4pm

TIDE (World Premiere)
SCRAP Performance Group
TIDE investigates what of our histories, our shared experiences, and our personal experiences would accompany us to a place where the natural world no longer exists. Performed in the immense and ultra-sparse ICE BOX, this work exposes the stories of six witnesses in a world that’s become a blank slate, and asks what pieces of our “civilized” past we hold onto to survive. TIDE promises an intensely sensual, visually intricate and emotionally raw vision of our shared experience.
60 minutes
ICE BOX Projects Space
1400 N American Street
Fri. 9/4 at 8pm
Sat. 9/5 at 4pm + 8pm
Sun. 9/6 at 4pm
Mon. 9/7 at 2pm*

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Philadelphia
Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance
12 choreographers. $10,000. Who takes it home? You be the judge.

Twelve Philadelphia-area choreographer were chosen for their ability to create inspirational and inventive contemporary dance. Now they compete over three preliminary performances (four choreographers per night) for the chance to be voted by the audience onto the final night, when the three final choreographers present their work and the winner takes home $10,000. The prize pays for the creation of a new piece. The two runners-up each receive $1,000.

More than a gladiatorial dance-off, The A.W.A.R.D. Show! features talkbacks so that audiences can express their ideas about the work directly to the choreographers. By having you choose what’s best, the performances entice you to pay close attention to the dance that’s presented. And while not every choreographer goes home with the Benjamins, the show provides a platform for emerging artists to present their work, and for audiences to be exposed to the next wave of American choreography.

Arts Bank at The University of the Arts
601 South Broad Street

Tue. 9/15 at 8pm, Preliminary Performance 1
Performers: Jumatatu Poe, Jenn Rose, Kathryn TeBordo, Kate Watson-Wallace
Hosted by:  Amy Smith, co- artistic director, Headlong Dance Theater

Wed. 9/16 at 8pm, Preliminary Performance 2
Performers: Nichole Canuso, Kirsten Kaschock, Gabrielle Revlock, Zornitsa Stoyanova
Hosted by:  Anna Drodowski, director, Ladybird

Thu. 9/17 at 8pm, Preliminary Performance 3
Performers: Braham Logan Crane, Devynn Emory,  Megan Mazarick, Jen McGinn
Hosted by: Melanie Stewart, artistic director, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre

Sat. 9/19 at 8pm, Final Performance
Performers: you decide!

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Special thanks to Megan Wendell of Canary Promotion + Design
for helping us compile this list for The Dance Journal.