PDP 2008-2009 Season
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Our Mission
The mission of Philadelphia Dance Projects is to support 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.
2008-09 Board of Directors
Elizabeth Templeton,(Chair)
Christopher Deephouse,(Treasurer)
Jill Bonovitz
Peter Crimmins
Joan Myers Brown
Meredith Rainey
Jonathan Stein
Kate Watson Wallace
Terry Fox, Exec. Director of Philadelphia Dance Projects
Philadelphia Dance Projects
1427 Spruce Street Suite 1F
Phila PA 19102 USA
ph: 215-546-2552
fax: 856-697-4364
e-mail:info@philadanceprojects.org
The History of PDP
Philadelphia Dance Projects(PDP) was begun as a three year mentoring project (1993-95) under the aegis of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In 1996 we transitioned out of that mentoring program with The Pillow and established our independence as a non-profit organization. PDP’s core program, has been informed by our experience of what Projects were most effective and most needed in our community. Today, Philadelphia Dance Projects serves the regional dance and performance community (a constituency that reflects the demographics of the field overall, where there are more women than men). Through PDP presentations a general audience of all ages can delve into the artist’s world, often seeing a range of contemporary styles.
Our accomplishments since 1996 include presenting scores of PDP Dance Classes/Workshops which have served artists and aspiring artists with practical professional development opportunities. Some of the most talented and respected guest artists of our time, from emerging artists to innovative pioneers from a variety of cultural expressions have led the classes and workshops including among many others: Ronald K. Brown, Chris Aiken, Min Tanaka, Bebe Miller, Dan Froot & David Dorfman, members of the Trisha Brown Dance Co., Deborah Hay, Cathy Weis, and Jazz dancer octogenarian Norma Miller, Carmella Vassor Johnson, Miguel Gutierrez and Ellen Fisher.
PDP has maintained The Studio Access Project which enables artists to present well rehearsed work and keep in shape technically. To date over 150 dancers and performers have spent over thousands of hours in rehearsal time at very low cost.
PDP participates in artists exchanges including the US Japan Choreographers Exchange’05, where a local artist was selected to work with artists from New York and Kyoto and then perform with peers in all three cities, and the SCUBA, National Network for Dance. SCUBA is a co-operative enterprise between Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, ODC Theater in San Francisco, The Southern Theater in Minneapolis and Philadelphia Dance Projects. The goal of the consortium of sister cities is to support the growth and expansion of the country’s next generation of contemporary dance artists, with the intent of SCUBA to be an on-going project that fills the increasingly large gap between locally established and nationally recognized artists. The PDP SCUBA residency includes open classes, student outreach, performances and a “salon” or “talk-back.” This project is ongoing since 2006 and is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2008,PDP presented its 6th annual dance film mini-festival “Motion Pictures” co- curated by Gretjen Clausing, Program Director at Scribe Video with the PDP Director. This is a unique exciting series that often includes artist talks and/or panel discussions, performances and workshops. For example the panel on “Envisioning Dance on Film and Video” was led by critic and writer Elizabeth Zimmer in 2004. Pooh Kaye and Carmella Vassor Johnson have both given technique workshops in capturing dance on video. In 2007, with support from the NEA, PDP provided three workshop participants free sessions in editing at Scribe Video Center as a workshop follow-up. The upshot of this was that Anastasia Wilder made a documentary film of Leah Stein’s site specific work “Gate” at the historic Pennsylvania Penitentiary, and Gabrielle Revlock made a humorous short about the workshop itself which was screened in Motion Pictures’08. PDP has provided commissioning support for dance films, “Jose Limon, A Life” by Ann Vachon and “HERE” by Niki & Jorge Cousineau.
For 7 years, PDP has placed an ongoing educational project at Olney High School providing students the opportunity to study contemporary dance techniques with some of Philadelphia’s finest professional dancers and choreographers and to take field trips to see professional dance performances. For many young people it has been their first foray into dance, both through interaction with creative artists as well as attending a performance in a professional theater.
Other accomplishments have included commissioning a collaborative dance work by Rennie Harris and Grisha Coleman, producing a photography exhibit “Philadelphia Dance By Philadelphia Photographers” which was exhibited as part of the 2000 Feet Festival of World Dance (’99), presenting a full day forum celebrating the Millennium in 2000 on Technology and Dance, and the “Post Judson Journey” a full season (2001-02) highlighting the Post Modern legacy of the Judson Dance Theater of the 60’s with artists Yvonne Rainer, Lisa Kraus, Tere O’Connor, Douglas Dunn, John Jasperse, Vicki Shick and Irene Dowd.
PDP has been catalytic to community actions. PDP Surveys were a resource for Pew program officers to build a case for developing the Dance Advance initiative. A 2006 survey was used for developing a Resource Directory also used by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts Program. PDP held a community planning session in 2000 with Archivist Mary Edsell to gather information that was used to construct a feasibility case statement for establishing a Philadelphia Dance Archive, and PDP co-sponsored community wide meetings and forums which built toward creating a new dance advocacy organization, DanceUSA/Philadelphia,in 2007. PDP Director organized and established DancePASS, discounted tickets to dance performances, for dance professionals, for same.
Thirteen independent artists and emerging companies and collectives have found PDP assistance as fiscal conduit invaluable in gaining their first step in growing organizationally or developing work including Mascher Street Co-op, PIMA Group and Meg Foley among others.
The organization’s vision was reaffirmed through strategic planning in the spring of 2008. Dance artists are engaged in a “time sensitive” transitory art form that merits support and response in the present. PDP will continue to support 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.
The programs highlighted here from PDP's history illustrate a responsiveness to community and a dedication to consider the value of all dance forms. PDP is clearly an advocate for dance in Philadelphia. Its programs have been developed in collaboration with its artist and presenter constituency. It serves, artists, audiences and students in various locales throughout the city. The projects greatly enhance the capacity of dancemaking, and the presence of dance in Philadelphia, thus fulfilling our mission.