Philly Fringe 2018: Sylvain Émard’s ‘Le Super Grand Continental’

I remember those days myself, and as a Philadelphian, I take pride in the Gamble and Huff songs that fueled them. So I was excited to see how Émard brought a contemporary dance aesthetic to this popular dance form. Like the audience members around me, I found myself dancing in my seat on the Art Museum steps.

Dancing to the sound of Philadelphia

The 200 dancers presented a combination of beloved line dance moves from the dawn of disco with contemporary dance. Émard set the piece to a driving beat that included Gamble and Huff’s iconic TSOP (the Sound of Philadelphia, better known to many as the Soul Train theme song) served up by DJ Emcee Elroy.

The dancers, in rows six deep that filled the plaza at the bottom of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, high-stepped, strutted, and sashayed in unison, and struck dramatic poses in moments of freestyle. Émard represented contemporary dance in the fluid sway of the dancers’ arms over their heads and the knee bends that gave vertical texture and depth to the formations. In one section dancers fell to the ground (a much-needed choreographic ploy to rest the dancers!). Children picked their way among the sprawled adults and danced in rings before dispersing again as their revitalized elders took up the beat once more.

Everybody in

The amateur performers represented a considerable cross-section of our multiracial community. Dancers of every age, every body type, every color and gender danced gleefully together in an eclectic mix of costumes that seemed to come from each participant’s own closet. At the end of the performance, the announcer invited the audience down from the steps and bleachers for an old-fashioned dance party.

If I were to quibble, I would want more changes in the tempo, which drove most of the dance as steadily as a metronome. And for variety, I would like another one or two freestyle moments that broke up the formations. But Émard ably succeeded in elevating community dancing with contemporary touches that let the amateur dancers shine. The performance brought us along on the journey and then invited us in with a dance party for all. Can’t beat that.