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Dancing for connection
PHILADANCO! celebrates Black dance in Philadelphia with Founder’s Day
Camille Bacon-Smith
For Founder’s Day, July 25 at the Dell, PHILADANCO! will celebrate its 55th anniversary with some old favorites, and a DANCO! family celebration, bringing together Philadelphia’s Black dance community for dance and music, and a night out in Fairmount Park. The tickets cost a little less, and the parking is free, but Marlisa Brown Swint, director of operation (and daughter of founder and artistic advisor Joan Myers Brown) promises “you still get the same excellence, but at a different venue than the Kimmel.”
Something a little different
Swint told me that “As long as I can remember, even as a child, we’ve always had this connection, with the Dell.” The company took some years off, but in 2012 they were looking to do something different at the Dell. “It started with Ms. Brown bringing works that she thought would be great for the community, and then we started doing some alumni performances, and all the things that the founder preferred. That’s how we came up with Founder’s Day.” Each year the company sets a different theme; this year, DANCO! is sharing the spotlight with groups from around the city to celebrate Black dance in Philadelphia. The idea was to bring together all the forms of dance that thrive in Philly—hip hop, jazz, contemporary, dance of the African diaspora, and more.
When I asked what audiences should expect, Swint told me that house music vocalist Lady Alma would open the show, backed by hip hop and house dancers Just Sole. (She’s fabulous and I expect there will be dancing in the seats as well!) Kulu Mele African Dance & Drum Ensemble will be there, and Grace Dance Theater among other groups performing. For many of the companies it is a sort of reunion: their founders are alums of the school or company.
But PHILADANCO is the star of the show. They’ll be dancing some of Brown’s favorites, including Francisco Gella’s The Seasons, an interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and George Faison’s Suite Otis, one of my own favorites. It is set to the music of Otis Redding and spans the emotions from a lyrical expression of grief to a sharp-dressed strutting line dance in hot pink.
R&B group Gerald Alston and the Manhattans round out the show, getting the audience on their feet for some dancing in the aisles. Even there, Swint told me, it is all about family. “One of our alumni [Edna Chew Alston] married Gerald Alston, so that’s how he’s always connected to PHILADANCO.”
Food concessions will be open at the Dell. Outside food and drinks are not allowed inside the venue, but people can picnic in the surrounding park, as long as they stow the picnic basket in the car before the show.
What, When, Where
The PHILADANCO! Founder’s Day, with choreography by Francisco Gella and George Faison, and appearances by Lady Alma, the Manhattans, Just Sole, Kulu Mele and others. $25-40. July 25, 2025 at the Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Drive, Philadelphia. TheDellMusicCenter.com.
Accessibility
The Dell Music Center is a wheelchair accessible venue.
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