Projects

Philadelphia Dance Projects supports contemporary dance through projects that encourage artists and audiences to more fully participate and engage in the experience and pursuit of dance as an evolving form. PDP achieves its mission by presenting stimulating performances, workshops, classes, a film series, and dialogs and forums for artists, aspiring artists, students and a broad-based audience. PDP constantly surveys the contemporary dance world, keeping a close eye on current trends in content and style, while actively engaging in and appreciating the depth of work being created today which plumbs dance precursors’ traditions.

PDP Presents

In 2009, Philadelphia Dance Projects launched Philadelphia Dance Projects Presents, a presenting series featuring dance performances, workshops and “informances” by independent dance artists and companies. The inaugural series was a great success, with sellout shows for all performances, as audiences came out in huge numbers to see contemporary dance, alive and well in Philadelphia.

The second annual series, Philadelphia Dance Projects Presents 2010 (February 26 - March 20), takes a look back and a look ahead, pairing the next wave of contemporary dance artists with influential choreographers from the 1970s and 80s Philadelphia dance scene.

Motion Pictures

Now in its 9th year, Motion Pictures has become a unique mini-festival that explores how film and video serve as natural collaborative medium for dance, highlighting the power of image and motion in both. The festival features experimental and innovative shorts, documentaries, “moc”umentaries and animations. There have been documentaries about Pina Bausch, Maya Deren, Carmen Amaya, Geoffrey Holder and Carmen DeLavallade Mark Morris and the Paris Opera Ballet along with imaginative ground breaking work by Pooh Kaye, Hilary Harris and Lloyd Newson among many others.

Local Dance History Project

The Local Dance History Project takes an informative look at the development of contemporary dance in Philadelphia through the work of five dance and movement artists who were among the first to explore post modern, improvisation and performance genres in the city during the late 1970s and early 80s. In 1980, dancers Michael Biello and Dan Martin, Jano Cohen, PDP’s Terry Fox, and Ishmael Houston Jones were featured in Dance & Dancers, a sold-out presentation at the Harold Prince Theater at the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts. Now, these five dancers reunite to reconstruct their work, which will be performed by young Philadelphia dance artists.