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The story of Rachel Harris, an operetta set in Paris, and the BalletX Spring Series
The Month in Philly Dance, March 2026
Camille Bacon-Smith
Like daffodils and crocuses, dance is springing up all over this month. So much dance! But as I dash from performance to performance, I often wonder if I should be doing something more useful. Then I remind myself that the arts are one of the most important things we can do. The arts create a safe space to confront our differences and our unifying griefs, to experience catharsis and joy as part of the collective organism that is an audience. They want to kill the arts because that collective spirit is the most dangerous thing in the world to the people who want to separate us. But we won’t let that happen. Like the daffodils, the arts burst forth with a promise of better times.
Philadelphia Ballet, The Merry Widow
March 5-March 15, times vary
Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street
I’ve been looking forward to this from the moment it was announced. Based on the Franz Lehar operetta about love and politics and money in Belle Epoque Paris, it has some of the most delicious music in the repertoire. There’s a sumptuous ball, and the usual romantic complications for an operetta, and of course—spoiler alert—it ends happily ever after.
West Chester Dance Works presents: Rachel Harris: One Woman Over the Line
Saturday, March 7, 2:30pm
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street
West Chester Dance Works returns to the Performance garage with its recounting of the story of Rachel Harris, who escaped slavery and lived in West Chester until she was betrayed and forced to flee again. BSR reviewed last year’s performance.
Equilibrium Dance, Women’s Day Showcase
Saturday, March 7, 7pm
Equilibrium Dance Academy, 1802 South Broad Street
For International Women’s Day, Equilibrium presents a showcase of local women and women-presenting companies, including Extensions Dance Project, Artistic Edge Dance Company, and Mélange Contemporary Dance. (Equilibrium Dance Academy is not an accessible venue.)
Hiroaki Umeda, assimilating and Moving State 1
Saturday, March 14, 7pm
Sunday, March 15, 2pm
FringeArts, 140 North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia
Choreographer Hiroaki Umeda presents his trademark bonelessly fluid movement in an eerie, avant-garde mix of hip hop and contemporary dance with a Japanese cultural sensibility.
Curt Haworth and Tammy Carrasco
Wednesday, March 18 and Thursday, March 19, 7pm
Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street
Philadelphia Dance Projects opens its season with two new works. Chris Haworth’s Imperfect Circles is about rediscovering the creative spark by healing the human connections broken by distance and the political upheavals that tear us apart. In Tammy Carrasco’s duet, A creature of the garden and cellar, interiority is a house to explore. Both pieces will feature original music.
BalletX Spring Series
March 18-March 22, times vary
Suzanne Roberts Theater, 480 South Broad Street
BalletX celebrates the work that co-founder and choreographer Matthew Neenan created for the company from its very beginnings—in 2006, his Broken Apart made me fall in love with them—through his middle period with 2015’s Show Me, to the present with a new work, his 28th choreographed with the company.
Rennie Harris Puremovement, Losing My Religion
Friday, March 20, 7:30pm
Saturday, March 21, 2pm and 7:30pm
Zellerbach Theater, 3680 Walnut Street
Philly’s own Rennie Harris is a legend in the dance world for bringing the history of hip hop into the living present with works that reach into the heart of Black culture. He’s had Losing My Religion on simmer since 2021. Harris’s work often grapples with issues of religion and struggle, and this promises a deep personal look at a society in turmoil and spirituality in an unjust world.
Kun-Yang Lin Dance, Echo and Flame/Fenghuang Awakens
Friday, March 27, 7:30pm
Saturday, March 28, 2:30pm and 7:30pm
The Mandell Theater at Drexel University, 3220 Chestnut Street
KYL/D is one of my favorite companies, seamlessly blending contemporary dance with Chinese dance and Taoist philosophy in works that are both thoughtful and enduring. So I have been looking forward to, and dreading, this performance in equal measure: the company is sunsetting after this home season. The program will include a new Lin piece, Fire Ritual Dance/Fenghuang In Us, as well as a reprise of several works and a special collaborative piece to celebrate the company and its founder.
Equilibrium Dance Company, Technicolor
Saturday, March 28, 3pm and 7pm
Equilibrium Dance Academy, 1802 South Broad Street
A performance inspired by the music of Justin Timberlake, with choreography by company founder Angelica Spilis and others.
Nisha Pradeep, Pratima: Singularity and Beyond
Sunday, March 29, 3pm
Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ
Artist in residence Nisha Pradeep will be developing a new work using classical Indian dance to explore questions about the Singularity—the concept that artificial intelligence will transcend human consciousness, and what it means to be human. The residency culminates in a performance of her new piece.
And also
Hubchat with Charles Askegard: Florence Price and William Grant Still
Thursday, March 12, 6:30pm
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street
Panel discussion with resident artist Charles Askegard and Guthrie Ramsey Jr., moderated by Philadelphia Ballet’s music director Beatrice Jona Affron. The evening includes excerpts of a work Askegard is creating on the music of Price and Still.
K Motion Troupe, Echoes of Tradition
Saturday, March 21, 5pm
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street
Performance by the Korean Motion Troupe school of traditional Korean dance.
Metropolitan Ballet Company, Variations/Collaborations 2026
Saturday, March 21, 7pm
Kurtz Center at William Penn Charter School, 3000 West School House Lane
Students in the Metropolitan Ballet Academy’s pre-professional company perform works by Tommie-Waheed Evans, Gabrielle Lamb, and others.
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