About the Artist

Allison Smith (she/her) is a dance artist based in Philadelphia. She has trained in both westernized contemporary dance styles and street and club dance styles, and she desires to acknowledge and highlight why hip-hop’s presence is vital in concert dance. In her contemporary dance, Smith works to focus on breath, weight, power, release, rhythm, and risk; Smith honed these skills working closely with Momar Ndiaye, Eddie Taketa, and Abby Zbikowski while receiving a BFA in dance at The Ohio State University.

Smith also practices popping, hiphop, house, breaking, and locking. Her research within these styles follows an ambition of unmasking as means of revealing clarity, breadth, and storytelling. She has worked with notable practitioners in Philadelphia, such as Vince Johnson, Ricky “Glytch” Evans, Marcus “Epic” Tucker, CK Branche, Jerry Valme, and Alexis Curiel.

With a collection of excavated, embodied knowledge, Smith examines how contemporary and hiphop intertwine, interact, and relate to one another.

Smith is one half of a collaborative duo with Kayliani Sood, Jumper Cables, that co-creates and performs original dance works with live musicians. Their movement practice lives between the worlds of street and post modern dance, and works through dynamism and raw physicality to expand possibilities for femme bodies to exist as capacious, messy, and real. Jumper Cables has performed and set work in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Urban Movement Arts’ Flow State, Philadelphia Dance Projects’ DANCE UP CLOSE series, and St. Louis Contemporary Dance Festival. Their work has been featured in ThINKing Dance journal and Broad Street Review.

Accessibility & Content Considerations

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This event is appropriate for all ages

Covid-19 Safety policy

This event does not require masks to be worn