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Image description: an image of a dancer in fifth position on pointe, wearing a strapless leotard and skirt is copied three times over a black background with large bold lettering that reads “I don’t dance”.
  • Reviews

When The Inner Critic Meets A Little Delusion

Caitlin Green

Kirner exposes the quintessential stage dancers’ inner monologue.

Chloe Marie Newton, a black female dancer wearing a gauzy dark blue tank and Helen Hale, a white female dancer with a long brown ponytail wearing shimmery silver, sit on a light grey marley floor, reclined on one hip with knees gently stacked and one arm intertwined with the other, reaching upwards. They have their backs to us and around and beyond them, we can see pale, cool-toned, sheer fabric. Through and beyond the fabric, we see a row of shadowy-figured audience members, seated and wearing headphones that emit a blue glow.
Photo: Johanna Austin
  • Reviews

Indelible Release: a Moonscape

E. Wallis Cain Carbonell

“Inside a womb of memories where the water body floats…”

A group of twelve people pose in front of a white wall. on the floor level, four group members either sit, lie, kneel or lunge on the ground. standing members lean on one another on either side of the crew, and people in the center sit or lay on a bench together.
Photo Credit: Cannonball
  • Interviews

Cannonball Bets on Philadelphia’s Indie Artists

Caitlin Green

“Cannonball is no one person’s vision, but the collective fever dream of us all.”

Three dancers, including Nalini Prakash and Vijay Palaparty all face each other in a circle, dressed in vibrant greens, reds and yellows while Vijay wears mostly all white. They are in a dance studio with warm wooden floors. They are all smiling at each other, reaching arms around while balancing on one foot.
Photo: Natasha Cohen-Carroll
  • Interviews

Who am I?

Zoe Farnsworth

Nalini Prakash and Vijay Palaparty discuss identity, tradition, and the evolving 20-year journey of Godavari.

A show poster with mostly purple tones and a purple banner below that reads RWP Fringe Knowledge 2025 Season TIMESTAMP by Karen Cecilia and Emilee Lord Dovecot Studios. Above is an image of two middle aged women in black tank tops, the one on the left with short curly red hair looking straight into the camera, the one on the right with long curly hairs looking up into the distance, Behind them is mirrored a reflected image of this same pose.
Photo: Emilee Lord
  • thINKpieces

Fringe Didn’t Kill Me!

Emilee Lord

A Guide to Not Losing Your Shit

An overhead shot of performers on a massive white stage or field holding up giant, elongated banners. The banners feature large red text outlined in white against a blue background, spelling out excerpts like "HAPPINESS" and "LIFE, LIBERTY". The performers wear numbered red vests over casual clothes and hold their arms high to display the fabric. Photo credit: Balich Wonder Studio.
Photo credit: Balich Wonder Studio.
  • thINKpieces

Heavy Canvas and the Performance of Patriotism

Lauren Berlin

Performing at the FIFA World Cup on July 4th in the City of Brotherly Love

In rehearsal with Sean Aaron Carmon, the Resident Choreographer at Banyan Dance Festival’s Inaugural week, dancers practice phrasework close to a light grey marley floor. In the foreground, a young white woman with loose brown hair in navy basketball shorts, black kneepads and black socks hinges backward. Carmon, a young black man with curly hair and a red bandana demonstrates floorwork in the background of the photo. Other dancers are busy at work in the rest of the photo. Some are part way out of frame.
Photo: Anthony Bethel
  • Reviews

Banyan Dance Festival: I Am Because We Are

E. Wallis Cain Carbonell

"We must remember on whose shoulders we stand.”

Several lines of students are mid bounce/step, focused on executing the choreography. All face front toward a wall lined with mirrors. The instructor stands in the middle of the front row of dancers. Participants wear a variety of athletic wear–workout sweats, tanks, shorts, long-sleeve zip ups–and most dance in sneakers.
Photo: Kirwei Lo
  • Reviews

Variety and Conformity in Community Work

Zoe Farnsworth

The enthusiasm and community were vibrant, but the choreography left me wanting more at Philly Dance Day's 2026 Showcase

Nia Love, Vincent Thomas, Miko Doi-Smith, Paloma McGregor, Will Bond, Leah Cox, Elisa García Radcliffe, and Ruby Morales in Wicked Bodies at Arizona State University, Gammage (2022). Organized in three staggered lines atop individual black stools, (three dancers, two dancers, three dancers), the performers each assume a “superman” position on their stomachs, back muscles taught as arms and legs lift off. The dancers wear an array of costumes (billowing pants, structured blazer, expansive gauzy skirt, a polka dot jumper) in shades of black, white, fuchsia, and red. Collectively, they cast their gaze stage left, the direction of their “flight” as haze descends over the top ⅔ of the stage height.
Photo: Tim Trumble
  • Book Reviews, thINKpieces

A witch, some kitsch, and a theory walk into a book

Jennifer Passios

On Liz Lerman’s "Shape and Momentum"

Around 20 workshop participants pose in front of an abstract oil painting in a bright gallery. They are all in different positions inspired by the artwork. Many stretch their arms out and up as if reaching. Some arch their backs or bend forward.
Photo: Chika Kobari, courtesy of KinoSaito
  • Reviews

The Four Mothers of Miki Orihara, or Learning Dalcroze’s 20 Gestures with my Daughter

Caedra Scott-Flaherty

Miki Orihara explores early modern dance and mothers in her newest work.