Philly Fringe 2025: Carne Viva Dance Theatre presents Dame La Receta

Director/choreographer Chachi Perez (who also joins the dance ensemble) and codirector David Velazco (who joins the onstage band) pull out ALL the stops. The show alternates between projecting documentary-style interviews on screen and performing explosive choreography onstage.

Liberty and justice for all?

An emotional opening highlights the difficulty of achieving the “American Dream” by contrasting that ideal with concrete barriers like financial difficulties and cultural concerns like code-switching. The initial video shows 1950s Americana images (framing the United States as the land of opportunity) while the dancers (dressed in loose American flag colors) recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The disdainfully stated final line clearly highlights that the United States does NOT represent “liberty and justice for ALL.” The band’s subsequent chorus about bills, taxes, and healthcare immediately punctuates the obstacles that prevent most from accessing the ephemeral middle-class dream.

Every bit of the multi-tiered choreography shines. Each movement flows into the other, and nothing is wasted. And these aren’t empty, beautiful gestures; under directors Perez and Velazco, they are grounded, precise movements to portray the cast’s emotions, creating gorgeous stage tableaus. Even during solos, there’s no empty space: the cast gracefully fills the stage at various levels in both the foreground and background. And each solo has a different texture, from a highly physical piece embodying struggle to a dance featuring whirlwind-esque turns and ecstatic jumps.

As in ballet, the cast’s formations are tight, yet feel loose. But unlike ballet, the group movements have a deliberate asynchronous feel, where the cast moves together until one dancer moves independently, evoking Reggie Wilson’s Power in last year’s Fringe. Similar to the opening, Perez frequently couples seemingly contrasting movements, such as supplication and sensuality. The talented, athletic cast does it all, from backflips over moving bodies to chaîné turns.

Sometimes, onstage movements reify on-screen images. When the ocean ripples on the back wall, the dancers undulate quietly. When the screen shifts to another image, the band keeps the echoes of water alive through sound.

A gift for good

While the main theme surrounds cultural concerns, Perez telegraphs the implicit premise of community through touch and hugs. Whenever the cast carries each other or pulls each other up, it emphasizes how community relationships can ground and support women—a feeling emphasized by the all-woman dance ensemble. As a choreographer, Perez (a queer Cuban American artist with roots in Miami who is now based in Philly) clearly has talent on par with Broadway sensations like Hamilton or pop dance group KATSEYE, so I respect that she uses her gifts and artistic vision to make statements about social injustice. Whatever comes next, I hope she receives the accolades she deserves.

I understand that Philly Fringe audiences can’t see everything, but I noticed that the shows easily accessible from Center City typically have a larger audience, and some of those acts are predominantly white. Dame La Receta, with a diverse cast just west of the Fishtown neighborhood, is a bit harder to get to, but it’s worthy of a full audience and a standing ovation.

In the end, Dame La Receta acknowledges that there isn’t just one ideal or one “American Dream,” but many dreams and interpretations to achieve the best life possible. It also reflects real-life diversity in the cast’s skin tones, hair type, and hair length. It’s the kind of art I love seeing in the Philly Fringe, with soul-stirring choreography you don’t want to miss.