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Taking the stage many steps at a time
The month in Philly dance: March 2025
Camille Bacon-Smith
Sometimes, theater and dance offer an escape from the darkening world around us. We need that respite, a chance to set down the burden for an hour or two. But the arts are at their most powerful when they help us stand against the dark. In March, Philly is showing off the richness of its diverse dance culture to give us respite and to encourage us in the struggle, with classical ballet and hip-hop, and intimate and personal fusions of contemporary dance filling local stages.
Philadelphia Ballet: Swan Lake
March 6-16, 2025
Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street, Philadelphia
After their own respite to recover from a month of The Nutcracker, the Philadelphia Ballet is back with a fairy tale in Swan Lake. It’s a prince-meets-swan story of love gone amiss. Expect Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s lush music and the most famous pas de quatre in dance, set with all the glitter and tulle we expect from a classical ballet. I put this one firmly in the respite category, but when I listen to that glorious music, it reminds me that it, and much of the choreography, has outlived tsars and kings and dictators, and so will we.
Rennie Harris Puremovement: American Street Dancer
Friday, March 14, 8pm
Saturday, March 15, 2pm and 8pm
Zellerbach Theater, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia
Philly native and choreographer Rennie Harris brings another new work to the Zellerbach. Black street dance is the heart and soul of American popular dance, and Harris’s American Street Dancer explores that legacy from the 1850s tap of Master Juba to today’s hip-hop styles, a primer on finding space for joy in the hardest times. Harris has been a champion for the recognition of street dance as an art form, and Penn Live Arts commissioned this piece as part of a three-year residency funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.
Koresh Dance Company: Darkness Dancing into Pieces
March 14-15, 8pm
Sunday, March 16, 3pm
Contemporary dance choreographer Roni Koresh promises to explore struggle and hope in the world premiere of his Darkness Dancing into Pieces, with music by frequent collaborator Sage DeAgro-Ruopp. Koresh’s work is not always pretty, but he can dig deep into the moment, so you always feel like you’ve been on a journey with him. In Darkness, he offers “movement as an act of defiance, resilience, and healing.”
Philadelphia Ballet: Bolero!
March 20-22, 7:30pm
March 22-23, 2pm
Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Ballet returns for a second program this month, a triple bill with a reprise of Russell Ducker’s Dance Card and two world premieres, including Stanton Welch's new Water Dances and artistic director Angel Corella’s Bolero. Corella has been stretching his choreographic wings, most recently with his full-length ballet to Bizet’s Carmen. Ravel’s Bolero is another warhorse of a piece that owes its structure to the rhythms of Spanish dance and I am curious to see how he makes it his own.
Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers: LUNA (月)/Dance, Myth, and Nature
Friday, March 28, 7:30pm
Saturday, March 29, 2:30pm and 7:30pm
Mandell Theater at Drexel University, 3220 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
A KYL/D performance often feels like a reverie—the contemplation of a poem or a thought or memory—that blends contemporary dance with Chinese movement. The upcoming series presents a meditation on the moon with choreography by Lin as well as long-time KYL/D dancers and choreographers Weiwei Ma and Evalina Carbonell.
Other dance events
FringeArts: Scratch Night
Monday, March 3, 7pm
FringeArts, 140 North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia
Scratch Night features a series of works-in-progress, including dance, circus, and theater performances.
Legacy on Broad
Saturday, March 8, 6pm
Zellerbach Theater at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia
This South Asian fusion dance competition features teams from around the US.
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