Dancefusion & Friends 35 years!

Overview

Dancefusion will present two varied programs along with guest artists and companies that have shared Dancefusion seasons over the years! Friends will celebrate Dancefusion’s 35th anniversary over two days. Program A will be presented on Friday, September 8th at 6pm and 9pm and Program B will be on Saturday, September 9th at 3pm and 7pm.

In both Programs A & B, Dancefusion will present Mary Anthony’s masterpiece Threnody (excerpt) based on the play, Riders to the Sea by John Milton Synge along with Anthony’s solo By The Shore. Dancefusion will also present Weathervane, a playful work for the full company, choreographed by Janet Pilla Marini.

Program A will include Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers in the solo, Kylin’s Garden, along with Dance Iquail! In Melvin Purnell’s Someday We’ll All be Free, a tribute to O’Shae Sibley, who was recently killed for being gay and dancing at a gas station!

Program B will include Miriam Giguere’s revival of Ellen Forman’s classic duet Are You Lonesome Tonight?, a slice of life theatrical work, updated for the 21st century, along with Eastern University Dance Ensemble in ebb/flow by Neeka Guenther and Jim Bunting Dance Company in Scourge.

About the Artist

Celebrating 35 years, Dancefusion was founded in 1987 by Artistic Director Gwendolyn Bye, with the vision of becoming Philadelphia’s premier modern dance repertory company focused on reconstructing historic works, as well as commissioning contemporary works. The company has presented annual home seasons and numerous dance and teaching residencies in Greater Philadelphia. Dancefusion has reconstructed and presented historic works by Mary Anthony, Anna Sokolow, José Limón, Pauline Koner and Daniel Lewis. In 2019, Dancefusion was honored to receive the Mary Anthony Dance Collection which includes all Mary Anthony’s historic masterpieces. The company also creates new works by Gwendolyn Bye, company members and guest choreographers including Colin Connor, KunYang Lin, Daniel Maloney, and Tonia Shimin. Dancefusion has been presented at many festivals including, The Come Together Festival, Philadelphia FringeArts Festival, The 92nd St. Y and the American Dance Guild Festival in New York City, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

The last three years have been challenging, Dancefusion went virtual for its 2020-2021 season which included outdoor spaces and limited areas in the dancers’ own homes, developing emotional connections to the Covid lock down. We opened back up for our 2021-2022 season, with Covid restrictions still in place we presented Dance Voices and Winter Fest. And now, in our 2022-2023 season, we presented our FringeArts program Envisions and our favorite holiday show The Twelve Days of Christmas and toured to New York City to present our reconstruction of Pauline Koner’s “Concertino” at the American Dance Guild Festival.

This year Dancefusion is sharing the FringeArts program 2023 with guest artists and companies including: Miriam Giguere, Ellen Forman reconstructor, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Dance Iquail!, Jim Bunting Dance Company, and Eastern University Dance Ensemble.

Credits