Since 2003, PDP has placed an ongoing educational project in a high school in Philadelphia providing students the opportunity to study dance techniques with some of Philadelphia’s best professional dancers and choreographers and to take field trips to see dance performances. For many young people this has been their first foray into dance, both through interaction with creative artists as well as attending a performance in a professional theater. Schools who have participated include Olney High School West, the Promise Academy at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, and the Philadelphia High School for Girls. Dance Artists have included Tanaga “Princess” Payne, Dinita Clark, Lela Aisha Jones, Melanie Cotton, Clyde Evans, Jr. Alie Vidich and Philadanco’s dancers Karen Pendergrass, Tracy Vogt and LaMar Baylor, among others.

PDP’s Dance Artists School Residency Project has been made possible with past support from the Lincoln Financial Foundation and current support from the Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial.