Philly Fringe 2025: Almanac Projects presents Rhonda Moore and Ben Grinberg’s Helpful Hints for Strength and Health for Busy People

Almanac Projects presents a first-look showing of Helpful Hints as part of the Cannonball Festival (running through September 27 at the black box Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake). The next phase of the project will involve touring senior housing and developing community duets over the course of 18 months. This iteration blends circus, dance, and theater to explore movement and well-being with strength, grace, and humor.

Moore and Grinberg move to voiceover for the PACER test, the infamous, multi-stage fitness test administered in K-12 schools. “Rhonda, what are we doing?” Grinberg asks as they grimly contort their bodies according to instructions. Uncertainly, Moore responds that they were doing what others want. The audience laughed at Grinberg’s request to do something else, but the point landed. Adults generally enjoy greater bodily freedom and autonomy, but children are allowed to move their bodies more freely.

The artists continue to explore physical culture in a series of vignettes featuring hand-to-hand acrobatics, various dance styles, and comedy. They use movement and gesture to convey how each teaches and learns from the other. Grinberg brings full embodiment and sensuousness to his dancing. He is a graceful yet remarkably strong base in acrobatic lifts and balances, sending Moore into the air and pushing himself up to all fours while she stands on his back. Moore lends dance experience to these sequences, maintaining poised limbs and perfect posture as she stands on Grinberg’s shoulders and balances over his head.

That book from 1901, the performers explained, shows how little has changed for the average person. It was written to address physical well-being when technology was changing how people live, and these concerns remain in 2025. Work-life balance is elusive in today’s hustle culture and economy, and well-being usually takes a backseat to earning (and keeping) a steady paycheck. Human resources might offer lunch-hour wellness talks or walking clubs, but few of us can take time off to digitally detox, gain physical strength, learn circus skills, or create art.

There must be a better way. Enter Moore and Grinberg as Pleasure and Ease. They want to know when we last felt them in our bodies. They complain that we were close until we got busy, overwhelmed with work and responsibilities. This winsome approach made it fun to consider topics that might be challenging or unpleasant. (Do you have a ready answer to that question about pleasure and ease? Somehow it made my aches and pains louder.) Moore and Grinberg shine as actors and performers here, engaging and funny as they riff on each other and interact with the audience.

Helpful Hints for Strength and Health for Busy People will leave you thinking about bodies, as well as how they relate to personal growth and human connection. It has much to offer as a work-in-progress, from interesting ideas and laughs to memorable performances for Moore and Grinberg. Catch it now while you can, bring a friend whose background or identity differs from yours, and stay tuned for more from this compelling duo.