Your October guide to Philly dance

Contemporary West Dance Theatre: The Beginning of a New Era
October 2 and 3
Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Street, Philadelphia

CWDT opens the season with an early full-length piece by company founder Bernard Gaddis, Fraternus/Brethren. Gaddis describes the work as an exploration of the Archangels’ grief at the death of Jesus; the performance will present part 1. Also on the program is a new work, A-pocalypsis, co-created by Gaddis and resident choreographer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish.

Geatali: Soul Searching
October 3 and 4
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia

Choreographer geatali tampy blends Indian dance styles from classical Bharatanatyam to Bollywood with hip hop, contemporary, and flamenco. The program promises dance and movement as meditation to explore the deeper meaning of the self. A discussion at noon precedes the show.

Two from Philadelphia Ballet

Philadelphia Ballet: Stars and Stripes Forever!
October 8-11
Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia

George Balanchine’s choreography makes a welcome return with the shorter concert version of Who Cares, and his great, star-spangled paean to America, Stars and Stripes. Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free and Eliot Feld’s Variations on ‘America’ round out the program.

Philadelphia Ballet: Dance at Great Velocity
October 15-18
Academy of Music, 240 S Broad St, Philadelphia

I’ve been looking forward to this performance. I love Christopher Wheeldon’s Danse Grande Vitesse for the propulsive movement, and not least for Michael Nyman’s score, Musique à Grande Vitesse, created to celebrate the French high speed rail. You can hear the engine in the pulsing of the music, and see its energy in the dancing. And the last time I saw the company do Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, it was almost there, but the performance flagged a little, so I am looking forward to seeing what they do with it this year.

Montréal and Roger Lee

Ballets Jazz Montréal: Dance Me
October 23 and 24
Harold L. Zellerbach Theater at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

Ballets Jazz Montréal returns with Dance Me, a piece created by three choreographers to the music of Leonard Cohen. I liked it a lot in 2019: the choreography was interesting and the dancing spectacular (I reviewed it here). BJM had exclusive rights to the dance for only five years, though, so this tour will be your last chance to see the full performance.

Roger Lee Dance Company: Gallery
October 23 and 24
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine St. Philadelphia

Portraits come alive in longtime family favorite Roger Lee’s new choreographic work, Gallery. Lee blends contemporary with jazz dance and hip hop that has something for the adults in the audience as well as a special appeal to kids encountering concert dance for the first time. (BSR reviewed a recent Roger Lee performance here.)

Special dance extras

Philadelphia Ballet II
October 1 at 5:30pm
Dilworth Park, 1 South 15th Street

Arts on Center Stage presents the School of the Philadelphia Ballet and Philadelphia Ballet II presenting classical excerpts and more contemporary pieces.

Philadelphia Ballet: Dance Talks, the Story of American Dance
October 1 at 6pm
Philadelphia Ballet Dance Innovation Lab, 323 N Broad St. Philadelphia

First in a series. Includes an excerpt from DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse followed by a discussion of the works of choreographers featured in the season opener. RSVP at the link.

BalletX: Free Fridays
October 2 at 5:30 and 6:45pm
BalletX Studio, 1923 Washington Avenue, Philadelphia

BalletX offers free monthly classes on Friday! Classes are one hour: this month it’s Beginner and Intermediate ballet at 5:30 and Beginner Vogue Femme at 6:45. Register at the link.

New Jersey Ballet – Ballet Insider: Discover the World of Ballet
October 4 at 1pm and 4pm
Bickford Theatre, Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ

Starting at 1pm, families get a backstage look at ballet, with performances of excerpts from the repertoire and a chance to meet the dancers and see how they train and rehearse. Then, at 4pm, after the kids go home, adult audiences can settle in for a discussion with the ballet’s artistic director Maria Kowroski and selections from choreographers George Balanchine and Penny Saunders. Note: these events are separately ticketed. Find the family event here, and the 4pm discussion event here.

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