2
WEEKLYPRESS.COM ·
UCREVIEW.COM · FEBRUARY 22 · 2012 Leah Stein Dance Company
Less than $
a month! 30
“Center City’s Incredible Gym.” -Philadelphia Magazine
ONE YEAR $
Offer Ends 2.29.12
SPORTING CLUB $
104/month
SWEAT
PSC $69/month $59/month
Love Value?
Lov e 359
WITH 2 & 3 PAYMENT PLANS
All the things you want in your gym. Just way less expensive.
Class Schedule In Town!
ALL CLASSES FREE!
continued from page 1 Leah Stein, a choregrapher and dancer, whose company strives to connect the unconnected celebrates its 10th Anniversary.
Photo: Lois Greenfield.
10 HIGH QUALITY TANS
Always Lower Than Hollywood Tans!
Offer ends
velopment or the dead ver- sus the living. Unlike most troupes, Stein’s dancers do not express those themes from a theater but from a variety of on-site land- scapes. According to Stein, her dancers have performed at sites that run the gamut from cemeteries, to parks, to gardens, to historic sites, to abandoned lots to loading docks. For Stein, who had worked for years as an inde- pendent artist in the Phila- delphia area, the inspiration for performing on-site began in 1993. As an experiment, she hosted a performance in Fairmont Park. “Everyone was so inspired to be outside and not have a ceiling,” Stein emphasized. After Stein officially opened her dance studio in 2002, she has used different methods to draw attention to what she wants her performances to convey. For example, the LSDC hosted an event across in the then abandoned lot near the Kimmel Center on Spruce and Broad Streets. The dance performance started at 6:30 p.m., in the vacant lot with its cracked pavement and overgrown weeds. To create tension be- tween the vacant lot and the
thriving Avenue of the Arts, the troupe moved its perfor- mance onto Broad Street and the audience followed, Stein explained, adding that as the troupe began to move it grew dark and the street lights went on. According to Stein, the sunset added another layer to the performance be- cause it made the audience conscious of how light is the way we view things. Since music plays an in- strumental part in a dance’s performance, Stein strives “to create a continuum be- tween music and sound.” Like many visual artists, Stein integrates found sound objects like the mood that rain falling on a rooftop cre- ates. And she will work with percussionists to reproduce the sounds found in differ- ent surroundings. As for the troupes’ style of dance, “it’s modern contemporary dance with a smattering of influences. It’s a combina- tion of highly trained and pedestrian movements,” Stein explained, adding that she likes her work to reflect both “the polished and the unrefined.” To achieve this, Stein’s dancers come from a variety of different back- grounds and disciplines. “Their most common thread is that they’re comfortable
with Improv,” Stein said, ex- plaining that she likes how Improv, “can generate new ideas.” To celebrate the LSDC’s contribution to the Phila- delphia’s Dance commu- nity, the Philadelphia Dance Project will host a 10 year anniversary performance celebration at the Perfor- mance Garage, 1515 Brandy- wine Street, from Thursday, March 8th through Sunday, March 11th. For Stein, “it’s interesting that our anni- versary will be celebrated in a theater, because it’s been awhile since we’ve per- formed in a theater.” But ac- cording to Stein, it will give the LSDC the opportunity to have a video component of past performances that will “demonstrate the breadth and depth of our work.” Some of the performance’s highlights will include: The elegantly simple Kite, a re- prise of a 2002 duet with U.K. choreographer Sean Feldman, which showcases the two artists’ united move- ment aesthetic, while A Lily Lilies celebrates shared ideas about landscape and language between Stein and poet Josey Foo. For more information on tickets and show times, visit
www.leahsteindance.org.
$69
Only
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12