We wrote this letter to the editor that the Inquirer did not publish, so we're posting here...
Becky Batcha, Features Editor
215-854-5757
From: danceapocalypse@gmail.com
Subject: Concern about Dunkel’s Spring Dance Preview in Inquirer, Feb 5, 2017
Dear Ms. Batcha,
We are writing in response to Ellen Dunkle’s spring preview of dance (“Leaping into the Season” printed Feb 5, 2017) with dismay and concern. As longstanding dance-makers in Philadelphia, we feel that this preview excluded much of the dance offerings scheduled for the spring. It read more like an advertisement for NewMove Dance than an actual representation of dance performances in Philadelphia. Dunkle’s preview also named three productions from PA Ballet, stating: “This spring dance season in Philadelphia features more ballet than we usually see.” Is this true, or only a fact if framed within a preview that excludes most of the contemporary and intercultural dance productions in Philadelphia?
There was no mention of some of the extraordinary dance projects happening this season including: The Body Wails, the Body Restores by Lela Aisha Jones | Flyground & Vershawn Sanders Ward | Red Clay Dance at the Painted Bride; RealLivePeople Presents: Impacting Spaces at the Community Education Center; David Neumann | Advanced Beginner Group: I Understand Everything Better at Bryn Mawr; Allendance presents Bloom at Christ Church Neighborhood House; 2017 Philadelphia Screendance Festival at the Performance Garage, to name a few. All of these are listed on the Philadelphia.org performance calendar and easily accessible for any arts patron or writer.
We hope the Philadelphia Inquirer will do better in the future and more accurately represent dance in this city.
Sincerely,
Nicole Bindler and Gabrielle Revlock
Choreographers, The Dance Apocalypse
TheDanceApocalypse.org
