Philly Fringe 2025: Dancefusion presents Timeless

Musicality in the 12-tone technique

With Dancefusion, we are given the chance to see these works of the great choreographers of modern dance recreated by their students and dancers. Founder Gwendolyn Bye worked with Sokolow early in her career (she remembers that her yellow leg warmers did not go over well: “she turns around and says to me, “Get that thing off. This dance is not about yellow!”). And she brought in Jim May, founder of Sokolow Dance Theater, to set Lyric Suite on Dancefusion. May worked with Sokolow for 35 years, and, Bye said, “Jim brings out a lot of what Anna would bring out in me when I was that age. He has his own way of doing it, and he just pulls it right out of them: ‘Why are you doing this? What are you saying? What’s the meaning behind this movement?’”

Sokolow drew on the musicality and emotion of Berg’s Lyric Suite. According to Bye, “It’s about the music. Jim [May] says all the time, listen to the music. It’s in the music.” Berg was a student of Arnold Schoenberg, a pioneer in the 12-tone technique. He used the atonality and dissonance of that technique to produce the piece in six movements without even melody to distract from the emotion that at some times vibrates with compressed angst and at others sweeps with yearning. Sokolow’s choreography reflects that emotionality, and Bye explained, “It is not movement for movement’s sake. Each section has a kind of underlying story for the dancer, but it’s not like a story that has a beginning, a middle, and end. Each gesture comes from someplace.”

It isn’t about an exact reproduction of the dance either, Bye said. It doesn’t have to be Sokolow’s meaning; each dancer brings their own interpretation to the piece. Audiences have to find their own meaning in the piece as well: Sokolow never explained in the program. But, Bye promises, “It’s a stunning work and it’s still relevant today. I hate to say—it was made in 1953—but I feel that it is still relevant to today. That’s why we call it Timeless.”

Remembering Zero Moving Dance Company

Performing as guests of Dancefusion, Moving Target’s artistic director Christine Vilardo will present two of her own works, Roots and Wings, and SirenSong. Vilardo was a dancer with Hellmut Gottschild’s Zero Moving Dance Company, and she draws on that legacy. She has set her pieces on 4 of his former dancers.

Featured image: Kate Lombardi in 'Lyric Suite.' (Photo by Randi Bye.)

Image description: A dancer in a red dress that flows out wide, her arms stretched out long, on a stage with a black background.