There was intimacy in the air. We, the 50 or so audience members, sat on folding chairs in the main dance studio. There was no physical separation between the stage and the audience. Had I sat in the front row, the dancers would have literally been inches away from me, perhaps even close enough to feel the air move as they passed by. It was exactly this sense of closeness and the blurry line between viewer and performer that made the show especially memorable.
This performance was my second time seeing a Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) show. I first saw the company last summer while visiting my step-grandparents in New York City. They had previously seen this Philadelphia-based dance company perform, and knowing how much I love dance and music, they bought tickets to their NYC tour. In two hours, the performance took me on an artistic and visual journey through the “unmistakable sound of Philadelphia.” Those two hours were enough to get me hooked on the company that, conveniently, is based just a short trip from campus. When I got home, I looked into the organization behind the production.
The Philadelphia Dance Company was founded in 1970 with a mission to empower young dancers by providing them with a space to thrive. It has since been celebrated as a platform for African-American traditions in dance. Not to mention PHILADANCO! played a huge role in the establishment of the International Association of Blacks in Dance, an organization dedicated to building an encouraging setting for the African American diaspora dance community.
When I found out PHILADANCO! was performing over Fall Break, I texted my friend Kevin, and we immediately bought tickets that same day. I looked forward to seeing the company perform again, this time at their home base in Philadelphia, the city that inspired much of the choreography. After a quick train ride, my friend Kevin and I arrived at the steps of the Philadelphia Dance Company building. It’s an aged building in West Philly that radiates energy and passion. As we made our way through the winding hallways, we admired the photos hanging on the walls, outlining the historic moments of hard-earned smiles, tears, and applause over the years. My mom had arrived a couple minutes before us, so we managed to secure second-row seats near stage right.
As the lights faded, the anticipation in the room grew thick until it finally ignited. The dancers were bathed in a blue ambiance, and soon it became hard to separate them from the music; they had become the physical form of the notes. The company’s focus on technique was clear in their performance. Whether from the clean turns, the incredible flexibility, or the physical strength, one could easily tell that these dancers had spent countless hours in the studio. The program featured a diverse range of dance styles, from disco to jazz to hip hop to lyrical. There was, as expected, heavy classic ballet influence on many of the pieces.
One distinct element that I noticed in many of the pieces was the use of staggered entrances: one group enters with the same movement as another group’s exit. As a member of Rhythm n Motion, I was reminded of the African Opener piece that we are working on this semester, which also incorporates these entrance and exit elements. However, it’s worth noting that this element, especially in an African American dance context, represents a more modern Western adaptation of the more traditional, participatory nature of African dance.
I was slightly disappointed to see that my favorite piece from the New York tour was not on this season’s repertoire list. The piece “To Philly … Love, Rennie” is a hip-hop/street dance piece that had everyone in that New York theater clapping and hollering. The Philadelphia showing did however, feature not only the main touring company but also the D2 and D3 training companies, which was different from the New York tour. As part of PHILADANCO!’s dedication to the emerging dancers and leaders, the organization also sponsors these training companies for younger individuals in addition to the main performing company. Although there were noticeable differences between the three companies’ performances, all three brought enjoyable visual experiences for the audience as part of a shared program. Especially memorable was the D3 training company, made up of dancers ranging from ages nine to sixteen, who brought me much joy with their performances.
Seeing the young dancers on stage reminded me of my own experiences performing at my Chinese weekend school. On that stage, like these young dancers, I performed dances that held cultural significance for me and my community. Being part of this intersection of art and culture has inspired me to keep exploring how to use it to further my self-exploration and to empower my local minority community. It also aided my process of discovering my identity as a then-recent immigrant, teaching me that I didn’t need to let go of my heritage to participate in American society.
This moment made me reflect upon the importance of organizations like PHILADANCO! and my Chinese weekend school, where communities could be formed through the sharing of art grown out of cultural groups and traditions. Art has so much strength in bringing people together, whether within communities of similar backgrounds or by introducing outsiders to that experience. It makes people realize each other’s humanity, a process that is too often missing and whose difficulties are often underestimated.
The house lights came back up, and just like that, the show was over: a flurry of colors, inundated with limbs and faces that somehow came together as a beautifully curated piece of art. As the audience stood and clapped, I was left awestruck, realizing only when I sat back down that I had been standing alongside everyone else. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the difficulties these dancers had to overcome to be here in front of me, creating something so moving. With each step I took down those same historic stairs, I understood more clearly that the performance wasn’t only about movement and music. Rather, it was a movement of itself: a movement as movement of movement. A movement to empower, to pioneer, to provide hope. I leave you with a visual: one dancer lifted by many, each generation carrying the next towards freer, more fulfilling lives. Their extended fingertips reach towards the sky, dreaming, knowing any height is attainable.
