Spring into swing

Swing dancers gather in Rittenhouse Square on Sundays for a swing dancing session organized by Lindy and Blues. A crowd gathers in the middle of Rittenhouse Square – some dancing, others watching and some dressed in 1920s attire. A band from New Orleans plays swing music. No, this is not a vortex into the past – [...]

Theater and performances find place in First Friday activities

The Arden Theater will join in the First Friday festivities this month with “Tell Me a Story.” Old City’s First Friday is certainly the cultural hub of Philadelphia for visitors to view some of the best artwork the city has to offer in various galleries. The galleries themselves, however, are situated around one of the [...]

Spanish flair empowers Philadelphia women

Traditional Spanish dance arrived in North Philadelphia and Main Campus through the First Philadelphia Flamenco Festival. The First Philadelphia Flamenco Festival, hosted by Pasión y Arte and featuring the work of internationally renowned Spanish choreographer Rosario Toledo, kicked off its two-week long event on March 19 at Temple with a free master class. While that [...]

Musical shows trials of showbiz

The self-referential musical, “A Chorus Line,” opened in Tomlison theater March 16, and tells the story of auditions for a musical. There is one singular sensation taking place in Tomlinson Theater this month – the theater department’s rendition of “A Chorus Line,” directed by Nick Anselmo. Produced for the first time in 1975, the revolutionary [...]

Race and class take center stage

“Pudd’nhead Wilson” opened on Main Campus Feb. 8. An actor sits in blackface on the stage, strumming a banjo as the audience enters Randall Theater. From this point forward, the audience knows that Temple Theaters’ production of “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” based on Mark Twain’s novel, is no ordinary play. The play follows the townspeople of Dawson’s [...]

Cabaret argues for marriage equality

Performers sang, danced and joked at the Marriage Equality Cabaret on Feb. 4. Advocacy and the arts merged this past Saturday, Feb. 4 for Five-Minute Follies’ Marriage Equality Cabaret. All of the money raised in ticket sales went directly to Freedom to Marry, a campaign that is attempting to bring marriage equality to GLBT Americans [...]

Studio space slated to close

The Performance Garage hosts numerous dance companies and performances, but will close its doors Aug. 31. Many Philadelphia performers and dance studio attendees are concerned about the fate of the Performance Garage, a studio space at 1515 Brandywine St. After more than eight years of housing dance productions and practices, the garage is closing its [...]

Bollywood style

PhillyFest celebrated South-Asian culture through performances on Jan. 28. PhillyFest 7 turned Bollywood and Indian classical styles, mixed with contemporary American methods, into one colorful night of dance. In its seventh year, the festival brought South-Asian culture to Philadelphia Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Merriam Theater. A crowd of more than 1,400 people cheered on [...]

Urinetown

Temple theater’s production of “Urinetown” highlights issues of sustainability. In Tomlinson Theater, two rolls of toilet paper hang from a display board. At first they may seem like playful decorations, emphasizing the almost crude name of the musical Tomlinson played host to. Upon a close look, one’s mind will reel at the devastating facts on [...]

Festival comedy explores science of love

Philly Film Festival showing of “Losing Control,” blends science and romance on the silver screen. What do science and filmmaking have in common? Philadelphia native Valerie Weiss, founder of PhD Productions and award-winning writer, director and producer said the two go hand-in-hand. “For the first time I saw science as a form of storytelling and [...]

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