DANCE UP CLOSE ‘25
Mid-Week Dance Series begins in April …..
Dancers most often have a collaborative synergy with the choreographers and other dancers with whom they perform. For DANCE UP CLOSE ’25 dancers, KAYLIANI SOOD and CHLOE MARIE have been asked to show their own deft and talented dancing, and to invite their peers to show their collaborative dance work as well, on shared programs.
To see this collaborative spirit in action…
Wednesday & Thursday, APRIL 2 & 3 at 7PM
KAYLIANI SOOD & ALLISON SMITH are collaborating on a new duet Jumper Cables.
Both artists bridge multiple dance styles of street and modern forms in creating dances that mesh movement strength, rhythm and spirit, with an implied subtle power of narrative. With drummer STEVE PERRY.
AND
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OREOLUWA BADAKI, ANNA MARTONE & JONATHAN VAN ARNEMAN
with drummers ASSUMANE SILLA and JONATHAN DELGADO come together collaboratively to present Seed & Sound, drawing from movement in West African neotraditional dance, House, and contemporary dance. “Journeying through roots, echoes, and rhythm, we explore what it means to be part of a diaspora.”
Wednesday & Thursday, April 30 & May 1
CHLOE MARIE is choreographing….on dancers she has collaborated with, in their and in others’ works. A Philly all-star crew includes Alex Brazinski, Tammy Carrasco, Amalia Colón-Nava, Alexis Curiel, Marisa Illingsworth, Chelsea Murphy, Dylan Smythe, Kayliani Sood, and Arien Wilkerson.
She says, “Lee Clarke will be helping me compose the sound score, and perform the music. Each of these individuals has provided an incredibly beautiful lens into what the expansiveness of being able to work inside of translating one’s dreams can look like. I am inspired, empowered, and excited to create a work on these individuals that is for them; and hopefully will help them grow their relationship to their art practice, and our relationship as collaborators. Every interaction with these individuals has come at a point of my life which impacted my artistic practice in extremely deep ways. I look forward to this epic collaboration and final outcome (for now).”
SAVE THE DATE Wednesday, JUNE 4
A Special Film Screening & Dance Jam
A collaboration between filmmaker, AIDAN UN and dancer, VINCE JOHNSON
AIDAN UN’s You Don’t Have To Go Home, But… “is an ode to dance, a love letter to Philadelphia. Following the lives of three dancers at different moments of their dancing lives with legendary Philly dance party Second Sundae as backdrop, the film examines the possibility of spiritual fulfillment in a socio-economic configuration that ultimately doesn’t value the practices that make us free.” Vince Johnson, Dancer and Director of Urban Movement Arts, co-writer and narrator. There will be a Dance Jam with DJ (TBA) post-screening in the theater.
All DANCE UP CLOSE happens at
Christ Church Neighborhood House Theater
20 North American Street, Phila PA 19106