At 'Come Together,' Philly dancers get to know you — and each other

With almost 200 dance companies in Philadelphia, and about 2,500 professional dancers (according to Koresh Dance Company and PhiladelphiaDANCE.org), it’s hard for some of the smaller companies to find a venue to perform and an audience to support their work. That’s what makes Koresh Dance Company’s Come Together Festival so exciting.

It’s a chance for audiences to see works by familiar dance companies like Philadanco, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, and Brian Sanders' JUNK, alongside lesser-known worthies like Just Sole: Street Dance Theater, Kelli Moshen’s Project Moshen, and work by individual dancers and choreographers like Melissa Chisena and Evalina (Wally) Carbonell. And for those who like to discover talent, they get to see the dancers of the future in the Koresh Youth Ensemble.

For smaller dance companies, Come Together means exposure to a wider audience as well as networking and collaboration opportunities. It also means that the Festival picks up the costs for the venue and publicity.

Dance telling stories

Kyle JustSole Clark, Founder/Choreographer/Artistic Director, along with his wife Dinita, of Just Sole: Street Dance Theater, says being part of the Festival “means the world to me.” Most importantly, he says, the Festival gives Philadelphia dancers a chance to see other dancers and opens the door for inspiration and, potentially, collaboration. Clark, along with Dinita, danced with Rennie Harris for eight years before forming his own company, which focuses on house dance — one of the forms of hip-hop. His approach to dance, he says, is to “put street dance in the theater like you’ve never seen it before.” For him, dance is not just conceptual: It should “tell stories like in the movies.”

Evalina (Wally) Carbonell is appearing in the Festival in two capacities. She will be dancing with Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, and this year she has choreographed a duet called Analemma for two local dancers. She says she draws her contemporary aesthetic from her training in ballet and gymnastics, as well as her work teaching gyrotonics. For her, the Festival is a chance to communicate with a broader audience. “The more people I can reach the better, because dance for me is about communication.” It’s also a chance to see what other Philadelphia dancers are doing. “Usually we’re so busy with our own work,” she says, “we don’t get a chance to see each other’s work.”

At right: featured members of the Red Desert Dance Ensemble, who performed at the Festival in 2014. Photo courtesy of Koresh.

A sense of community

Kelli Moshen, who formed the all-female Project Moshen Dance Company in 2010, sees the Festival as an amazing opportunity to perform alongside the top companies in Philadelphia and to “meet companies like ourselves” and learn about how they manage the challenges of running a small dance company. Her dance style is “urban, staccato, and intense.”

For Melissa Chisena (Chisena Danza), who teaches and organizes festivals (like the Philadelphia Youth Dance Fest) when she isn’t performing, the Festival “creates a sense of community in the dance world.” She says her company is project-based and often collaborative, and this year she will be performing a solo piece with original music by local composer Jonathan Cannon.

This year’s Festival features 33 dance companies, selected from over 70 invitees and applicants. While the emphasis is still on local dance companies, this year’s Come Together also includes companies from New York, New Jersey, and Seattle. In addition to performances, there will be dance workshops with visiting choreographers at the Koresh School of Dance.

Come Together Dance Festival 2015, organized by Koresh Dance Company, runs from July 22-26 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street (Broad & Lombard), Philadelphia. For more information and the full schedule, call 215-751-0959 or visit online. For tickets, call 215-985-0420 or click here.

Below: Raphael Xavier will dance in the Come Together Festival. Photo courtesy of Koresh.