An arresting procession of individuals marches through the city carrying blank placards. Silent signs are held aloft by silent protestors. A marching band plays. When intrigued passersby ask what they are protesting, the marchers turn the question back to them: What do you want to protest? A discussion ensues. Ideas circulate.

Anna Halprin’s Blank Placard Dance was first performed in 1967 in San Francisco. Created in response to the Vietnam War during an era of social unrest in the United States, the original performance was interrupted by the police. Since then, this iconic happening has been re-staged at festivals and in cities all around the world.

For the 2026 Philly Fringe Festival, during Philadelphia's celebration of America’s Semiquincentennial, choreographers Anne Collod and Sherwood Chen lead twenty local performers in picking up the placards and marching through Center City. As topical now as it was nearly sixty years ago, Blank Placard reaffirms the power of the collective in a society that values individualism.